The Louisiana Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Corrections has awarded The Institute for Building Technology and Safety (IBTS) a contract to provide construction code enforcement for plan reviews, inspections and training for the State of Louisiana. IBTS will support recovery efforts for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, storms which destroyed or severely damaged 123,000 single family homes, 18,000 businesses, and hundreds of roads, schools and public facilities in Louisiana.

IBTS has opened a branch office in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to manage these services. Under this contract, the nonprofit will deploy up to 60 plan reviewers and inspectors to eleven parishes in the reconstruction and rebuilding of single family and multifamily residential housing units.

Personnel from IBTS will work with the parishes of Calcasieu, Cameron, Iberia, Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Terrebonne, Vermilion, and Washington, deploying personnel in order to ensure that construction code regulatory functions conform to the codes adopted by the eleven parishes in accordance with Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code (LSUCC) requirements.

Louis Savoye, Jefferson's Code Director, said that the help would make a big difference. "The beauty of these people is that they are multi-disciplined. In Jefferson, an electrical inspector handles only electrical inspections, whereas the IBTS professionals arriving from out of state often can handle plumbing, electrical and other specific permit reviews."

Working with and augmenting existing Construction Code Departments and Louisiana Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs), IBTS has been providing training where necessary, conduct plan reviews and inspections, and function as an adjunct temporary Building Department, to enforce accurate and timely regulatory code enforcement.

IBTS brings to Louisiana over thirty years in construction code enforcement. With a staff certified in all professional building trades, IBTS functions as a Building Code Department on 20 military bases nationwide, conducting code enforcement for housing construction for military personnel and their families, since local Building Departments have no jurisdiction on those Federal properties. IBTS acts as a local building department for many local municipalities and for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Federal Manufactured Housing Program.

Inspecting properties and ensuring code compliance in Louisiana are not new to IBTS. In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, IBTS deployed personnel to Louisiana to work with FEMA, Fluor Daniels and ATCS to provide building damage assessment and inspections. IBTS has provided similar building regulatory disaster recovery assessments in several other states.