CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA – America will celebrate Building Safety Week from May 3 through 9. The theme is “Building Safety: Where You Live, Work and Play.” The City of Charlottesville’s Neighborhood Development Services building inspectors are participating by offering, free of charge, safety inspections of outdoor decks in the City.

First observed in 1980, Building Safety Week annually raises public awareness of critical safety issues affecting every person, regardless of age or occupation. These entail the structural soundness of the buildings where we live and work, reliability of fire prevention and suppression systems, plumbing and mechanical systems, accessibility, energy efficiency and sustainability.

Recent crane failures at high rise buildings in the US and night club overcrowding disasters are extreme examples of the importance of building safety. Residential deck failures unfortunately occur each summer due to overcrowding and faulty construction and maintenance. The City will offer a courtesy wood deck inspection during Building Safety Week (May 3-9). To sign up, please leave your name and address in a message at 970-3331. An inspector will respond and leave a written report at your front door. We will arrive between 8 AM and 4 PM and let you know we are there. We are not able to give an exact time because we are also performing the new construction inspections requested each day.

Building and fire inspectors, plan reviewers, and others in the City of Charlottesville work to ensure the safety of the structures in which all of us live, work, attend school, worship and play. These officials provide the first line of defense against building disasters. We are silent but vigilant guardians who work daily to ensure safety in the built environment.

Building codes are available at Jefferson Madison Regional Library at 201 East Market Street and www2.iccsafe.org/states/Virginia. The website codes include Virginia amendments to the national codes. There are separate codes for single family dwellings and commercial buildings.

The City of Charlottesville is a member of the International Code Council. The sponsor of Building Safety Week, the Code Council develops the most widely used building safety and fire prevention codes in the nation. Each Charlottesville inspector is also a member of the statewide building code professional organization, Virginia Building Code Officials Association. Tom Elliott, is the Building Code Official, and Denise Burgess, Darin Clements & Francis Vineyard are Building Inspectors for the City of Charlottesville.

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