According to a report by the
Council on Finance, Insurance and
Real Estate of the National Institute
of Building Science, small commer-
50,000 square feet) comprise a
significant portion of the nation’s
commercial building stock, both by
number and area (93.9 percent and 49. 5 percent, respectively).
Additionally, the U.S. Census tells us that approximately 50 percent of the working population is employed by a small business,
many of which are housed in small commercial buildings; such
structures may not be highly engineered or have trained building
safety experts on staff.
On the other hand, if homes are badly damaged or destroyed
while the commercial sector remains intact, people must focus
on rebuilding and/or finding a new place to live. As a result, they
are not focused on (or even available for) work.
Rigorous scientific testing of residential and commercial
building materials and systems at the IBHS Research Center
against highly realistic wind, water, fire, and hail events confirms that making the right choices when designing a building,
along with proper installation, greatly reduces storm damage
to buildings and associated disruption to the people and businesses that occupy them.
One way to operationalize the types of best practices that
IBHS and other engineers identify is through enactment and
enforcement of building codes. Most people don’t realize that
building codes are minimum acceptable standards (to use a
building metaphor, they are the floor) used to regulate design,
construction, and maintenance of residential and commer-
cial structures for the purpose of protecting the health, safety,
and general welfare of building users. Strong codes—and their
adequate enforcement—play a vi-
tal role in public safety and loss
prevention. Codes also establish
predictable, consistent minimum
standards that help assure the
quality of construction materi-
als, products, and systems used in
buildings. It is crucial that building
codes are well enforced. In the absence of strong enforcement
practices, even the best code is just another piece of paper.
Research by IBHS and other organizations shows very clearly
that strong, well-enforced codes that take local hazards into ac-
count can work. For example, after Hurricane Charley in 2004,
IBHS evaluated the performance of homes built according to bet-
ter building codes put in place in 1996 (as the result of Hurricane
Andrew) against homes built prior to the existence of the better
codes. The better-built homes fared much, much better as Char-
ley slammed into Florida. There was a 60 percent reduction in
the frequency of loss and a 40 percent reduction in the severity of
loss among the homes built to the improved, post-Andrew code.
To further spotlight the importance—and lack—of strong,
modern building code systems in vulnerable areas, IBHS cre-
ated a first-of-its-kind Rating the States report in 2012, and
updated the report in 2015. The report contains an assessment
of the building code systems in the 18 most hurricane-prone
states from Texas to Maine along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts.
We looked at several elements of the systems, including whether
the latest national model code had been adopted, what enforce-
ment mechanisms exist, and whether the people who have to
implement the code (e.g., code officials and contractors) are ap-
propriately educated and licensed. The report has, as intended,
shown where gaps exist in some states, and helped residents and
communities understand what can be done to strengthen their
n
E
il
cial buildings (defined as less than
)
standards that help assure the
quality of construction materials, products, and systems used in
buildings. It is crucial that building
codes are well enforced. In the absence of strong enforcement
Strong codes—and their
adequate enforcement—
play a vital role in public
safety and loss prevention.
Wind damage to the roof of a
manufactured home.
