Proclaiming the Month of May 2011 as "Building Safety Month."

The City Council of Philadelphia designates the Month of May 2011 as “Building Safety Month” in Philadelphia and encourages all to participate in a month-long celebration of all aspects of building safety that helps families, employers and leaders understand and appreciate the best practices that keep the places where we live, work and play safe.

WHEREAS, The International Code Council Foundation is sponsoring Building Safety Month throughout the month of May 2011 to help create community-wide recognition and understanding of building safety and sustainability and the critical role of codes and code officials; and

WHEREAS, For the last 30 years the 50,000 worldwide members of the International Code Council (ICC) have celebrated advances in building safety, and widespread interest in the campaign has grown significantly; and

WHEREAS, All communities need building codes to protect their citizens from every day tragedies like fires, weather-related events like floods and structural collapse that follows deterioration over time of buildings of all kinds; and

WHEREAS, Model building codes, adopted intact and enforced by a well-trained professional code officials are society's best way to protecting homes, offices, schools, manufacturing facilities, stores and even places of entertainment; and

WHEREAS, Countless accidents still occur in homes across the U.S. and globally where codes are poorly understood or used improperly; and

WHEREAS, The expanded Building Safety Month will help bridge these gaps and provide a broader platform to share the sphere of knowledge among architects, engineers and skilled industry veterans so that families, businesses and communities can be safe, strong and sustainable; and

WHEREAS, For example, the range of support from the President, governors, city mayors, county executives and other officials in 2009 demonstrated widespread interest and focus on the issue of building safety; and

WHEREAS, In recognition of the overwhelming support of the building safety movement, the 31st Anniversary marks the expansion of Building Safety Week to Building Safety Month.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF PHILADELPHIA, That Philadelphia designates the Month of May 2011 as “Building Safety Month” in Philadelphia and encourages all to participate in a month-long celebration of all aspects of building safety that helps families, employers and leaders understand and appreciate the best practices that keep the places where we live, work and play safe.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Commissioner Frances Burns as further evidencing the sincere admiration and gratitude of this legislative body.

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