The code development process is evolving. Institute for
Market Transformation (IMT) Program Associate Todd Sims writes about the
evolution and the likely impact on future codes. The introduction of cdpACCESS, which allows all code officials to vote on the content of
future codes from their office (or even their living room) is an opportunity to
bring tens of thousands of code officials to the table and participate in a
process where the end result affects every single person.
As Sims points out, "This is the biggest change in U.S.
building codes since the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911.”
The model codes have significant impacts on all segments of the building
industry yet their content has often been decided by the hundred or so code
officials who can afford to attend week-long hearings in person. These
participants often came from larger cities that could afford the travel expense
and redistribute workloads.
One unintended consequence of the old way of doing things is that code
officials in small towns across the country began feeling the code didn’t belong
to them; that the codes were being promulgated by the big cities of the east and
west coasts.
Sims also sees a role for cdpACCESS beyond merely voting on
code changes, including tackling the key issues revealed by the National Institute of Building Sciences in a demographic survey of code officials.
Read the blog and get involved in the development of future codes.