Waugh is Vice Chairman of the Senate's Local Government Committee. It gives builders consistent, economical standards to work with - to protect Pennsylvanians whether at home or work. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency reports 70 percent of the 220 fire-related deaths in Pennsylvania last year were due to the rapid spread of fires in older structures built without the benefits of a modern building code. The Pennsylvania Construction Code Act puts the Department of Labor and Industry in charge of developing appropriate regulations to implement the new law. The law adopts the 1999 BOCA National Building as the statewide standard.
Flexibility is designed into Pennsylvania's new building code law.
As designs reflect new materials and new construction techniques, the law will be updated. In fact, the statewide standard will change whenever the BOCA National Building Code is reissued. BOCA revises its standards every three years.