“Building Safety: Where you Live, Work and Play”
- City departments to celebrate Building Safety Week -

When you enter a house or building are you worried about whether the structure is safe? Do you have concerns about how the building was constructed? The answer is most likely no, but lucky for you the City has employees to think about building safety and fire prevention for you.

To help raise awareness of building safety, three City departments, Development Services, Housing and Neighborhood Services, and the Fire Department, are holding informational booths during Building Safety week from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. May 5 through 11 at the Cliff Morton Development and Business Services Center, 1901 S. Alamo. The theme is “Building Safety: Where You Live, Work and Play.”

“The important work we do is often overlooked until a catastrophic tragedy occurs,” said Director of Development Services, Roderick J. Sanchez, AICP, COB. “When building safety and fire prevention experts inspect buildings during and after construction, we help to ensure that the places where you live, learn, work and play are safe.”

Building safety and fire prevention codes address all aspects of construction, such as structural soundness of buildings, reliability of fire prevention and suppression systems, plumbing and mechanical systems, and energy efficiency and sustainability. To ensure buildings are safe requires the active participation of building safety and fire prevention officials, architects, builders, engineers, and others in the construction industry, as well as property owners. “Public safety is our number one concern,” said Sanchez. “During Building Safety Week and all year long, building safety and fire prevention officials are here to help protect you and the San Antonio community.”

The following City staff will have informational booths during Building Safety Week:

May 5: Development Services Building Inspectors and the Fire Department. In addition, the Fire Department will be registering citizens for a free smoke detector

May 6: Housing & Neighborhood Services staff will provide information regarding its Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control Program and its Owner-Occupied Rehabilitation/Recon program

May 7: Development Services Construction Inspectors and Public Works Accessibility staff

May 8: Development Services Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing Inspectors

May 9: Housing & Neighborhood Services Code Compliance Officers and Development Services Investigators

Building Safety Week, first observed in 1980, is sponsored by the International Code Council, a membership organization dedicated to building safety and fire prevention, of which City of San Antonio is an active member. 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 choose the International Codes—building safety codes developed by the International Code Council.

Please visit the Development Services web site at www.sanantonio.gov/dsd for more information regarding the City of San Antonio building codes.