Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule (BCEGS®)

The prospect of lessening catastrophe-related damage and ultimately lowering insurance costs provides an incentive for communities to enforce their building codes rigorously — especially as they relate to windstorm and earthquake damage. The Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule (BCEGS®) assesses the building codes in effect in a particular community and how the community enforces its building codes, with special emphasis on mitigation of losses from natural hazards.

Challenge
Building-code enforcement can have a major influence on the economic well-being of a municipality and the safety of its citizens. Municipalities that adopt up-to-date, unamended codes — and rigorously enforce them using a sufficient number of trained and certified code-enforcement professionals — minimize damage from natural hazards, fire, and other perils, ultimately reducing insurance costs. The prospect of lessening catastrophe-related damage and ultimately lowering insurance costs provides an incentive for communities to enforce their building codes rigorously — especially as they relate to windstorm and earthquake damage. The Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule (BCEGS) assesses the building codes in effect in a particular community and how the community enforces its building codes, with special emphasis on mitigation of losses from natural hazards.

Solution
For each community, ISO’s BCEGS program develops a relative Building Code Effectiveness Classification for insurance rating and underwriting purposes. We analyze the data and assign each municipality a BCEGS grade of 1 (exemplary commitment to building-code enforcement) to 10. During a BCEGS survey, an ISO field representative will use the BCEGS Questionnaire to assist in the evaluation of a community’s resources for code enforcement. ISO will use the information to establish a community’s BCEGS grading.

Technique
A community’s classification depends on key criteria, including staffing levels and qualifications of plan reviewers and field inspectors, code adoption and amendment, and the community’s commitment to building-code enforcement. ISO also takes into account:

• public-awareness programs and code-development activities in a community
• details of the building department’s review of plans for residential and commercial buildings
• thoroughness of the inspection process
• zoning provisions in force to mitigate natural hazards

In addition, ISO collects underwriting information, including natural hazards common to the area, number of inspection permits issued, number of inspections completed, the building department’s funding mechanism and date of establishment, size of the jurisdiction and population, and fair market value of all buildings.

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