The Ministry of Works yesterday teamed with the Bahamas of Society of Engineers (BSE) for a seminar on modernising and upgrading the building code.
Antoinette Thompson, the Ministry's permanent secretary, said the Government is pursuing a number of initiatives including e-procurement and ease of doing business enhancements, together with a review and harmonisation of the laws relating to the construction industry.
The Bahamas presently uses the Third Edition 2003 of The Bahamas Building Code (BBC). The code's purpose is to provide certain minimum standards, provisions and requirements for the health, safety and welfare of Bahamians. The two major code bodies are the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the International Code Council.
Robby Dawson, the NFPA's regional vice-president, gave an overview of the NFPA, the fire and life safety ecosystem, and how it protects lives and property through the proper adoption and enforcement of building and fire-related codes.
Mr Dawson said some of the codes in the BBC use standards that are outdated or do not exist and, if enforced, are not using the latest technology or construction standards to be most efficient and effective.
He said the use of newer BBC editions may improve safety in The Bahamas. New technologies that exist, and are addressed in the codes, could allow construction to take place on a safer basis.
"Some jurisdictions and countries would take certain provisions out because they're not really applicable; things like snow modes are not a big concern to The Bahamas. Wind loading from hurricanes, that's more an impressive concern here, so The Bahamas may look at strengthening those codes," said Mr Dawson.
Sessions were also held on The Life Safety Code, Code Adoption Process and the BBC.
Comments
bogart 5 years, 6 months ago
BOUT TIME SOMEBODY CATCH SENSE IN REALIZING REVISIONS WAY...WAY...WAY...PAST DUE.....dis continuous rebuilding hurricand..damaged....flooded...homes......ON DA SAME SPOT....PLAIN DUMB......WAITING FOR NEXT HURRICANE....doing the same ting over again......an...an....an...an...insurors...govt goes long with that... Homes needs to be relocated....rezone areas.....create ..pathways for water.....contain waters in low areas to traps it froving strait through damaging other homes.....do like the Dutch in Holland how they manage to protect themselves when Europe gets incapacitated shut down by storms..... What needs to be stopped immediately is the filling in of swamplands to create subdivisions......
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