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Louisiana Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Corrections

Residential Building Code Enforcement Training

Client

The Louisiana Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Corrections. The DPS provides safety services to both the citizens of the state and visitors to the state of Louisiana by upholding and enforcing the laws, administering regulatory programs, managing records, educating the public, and managing emergencies, both directly and through interaction with other agencies.

Challenge

After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the entire state of Louisiana, the DPS had to find a quick and efficient way to inspect and rebuild over 150,000 buildings. The State had a severe shortage of qualified building code enforcement personnel.

It also had a unique opportunity to restructure and update its approach to building code enforcement, and bring its standards and practices more in line with what the rest of the nation was doing as a whole. With that in mind, the DPS issued a requirement that all construction and reconstruction had to conform to the codes adopted by the Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code (LSUCCC), requirements which adhered to the nationwide building codes. Louisiana Inspectors were going to need to be quickly brought up to speed on the new codes, building departments were going to need to be supplemented or built from the ground up in the twelve most devastated parishes, and cleanup and rebuilding efforts needed to begin immediately.

IBTS swiftly moved to form Louisiana IBTS (LAIBTS), a Louisiana-based corporation fully supported by the personnel, equipment and expertise of its parent company, to provide customized education and training programs to increase understanding of and compliance to building codes in Louisiana.

A clear, uniform understanding of codes among members of the building industry is critical to improving compliance, and to reducing potential conflicts among builders, consumers, and code officials. Some code violations recur as a result of requirements being misunderstood, or because of government changes to codes. IBTS offers training to Building Inspectors around the country to prevent recurring safety hazards, and LAIBTS is proud to be able to serve Louisiana in the same capacity.

IBTS Solutions

  • IBTS provided a highly qualified training staff of more than 80 inspectors, plan reviewers and building code officials, most possessing more than 20 years of experience in Building Code enforcement.
  • IBTS created and ran training programs to assist participants in obtaining ICC certifications.
  • IBTS provided user friendly practice exams.
  • IBTS provided highly qualified plan reviewers, inspectors, and building department professionals augment or operate building departments and trained staff hands-on in creating a professional building department.
  • IBTS conducted training 'classroom style,' with a low learner-instructor ratio of 50 to 1.
  • IBTS training sessions were highly interactive, with excellent training materials, usable workbooks, many walk-through examples, code references, illustrations, and situational analyses.
  • IBTS provided training materials for staff to take away and use for future reference.
  • IBTS adjusted the training program to address the local conditions, various building types, and wind zone requirements of that region.

Benefits

  • The State created high quality building departments with highly qualified staffs in a short amount of time.
  • Building departments had ICC certified building code enforcement staff.
  • Building departments were bolstered where they did not exist before.
  • The training groups were relatively small in size with a learner-instructor ratio of 50 to 1 to ensure adequate attention to the needs of all participants.
  • Participants walked away with practical training they could apply in the field immediately.
  • Participants became highly qualified Residential Building Code reviewers for their region.

Testimonials

"It has been astonishing to see IBTS mobilize over 80 Building Code Professionals into the 11 affected parish areas in such a short period of time…though only one of the initiatives by the Governor’s Office and DOA related to homeowners on the "road home", IBTS has been the shining star among those providers."

- Jill P. Boudreaux, Louisiana Dept. of Public Safety and Corrections