Safe and proper construction of buildings is rarely on your mind when you enter a home or building. Fortunately, the staff in the Savage Building Division thinks about building safety and fire prevention every day. To help raise your awareness of building safety, the City of Savage Building Division is celebrating Building Safety Week from May 6-12. During this time, a special focus will be paid to promoting the use, enforcement and understanding of building safety and fire prevention codes to protect lives and property. "Building Smarter ... for Disasters and Everyday Life" is the theme of Building Safety Week 2007.

"The importance of regulating and enforcing building codes is often overlooked until a catastrophic tragedy occurs," said City of Savage Chief Building Official Jay Scherer. "By inspecting buildings during and after construction, we help to ensure that buildings in the community are safe places in which to live, work, play and learn."

Building code regulations in Savage help to ensure that buildings are as safe as possible. Codes address all aspects of construction including structural integrity, electrical, mechanical, and plumbing systems, energy efficiency and property maintenance. Effective code enforcement requires the support of homeowners, architects, builders, engineers and others in the construction industry."

"Building Safety Week recognizes the important professionals who make sure the buildings in our community are safe. Public safety is our number one concern," said Scherer. "Building and fire officials are here to help you understand building safety issues. In this age of do-it-yourselfers, it is extremely important for homeowners to work with the City of Savage to make sure their residences fully comply with building safety codes."

Building Safety Week, first observed in 1980, is sponsored by the International Code Council Foundation, an organization dedicated to changing the devastating effects of natural disasters and other building tragedies. The City of Savage is an active member of the International Code Council. The International Code Council develops the codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings, including homes and schools. Most U.S. cities, counties and states that adopt codes choose the International Codes developed by the International Code Council.