THE Trelawny Municipal Corporation (TMC) is set to commence in-house training of officers on the international building codes, primarily the standards and regulations referenced in the Building Act, 2018.

Chief engineering officer of the corporation, Lavern Morris, told JIS News
that following the completion of the train-the-trainer course in January, the stage was set to start retraining planners, technical officers and other personnel employed to municipal corporations across the island as well as other agencies of the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development.

The latest leg of the course, which began in October 2023, was available to selected administrators at the ministerial level and local authorities, National Environment and Planning Agency of Jamaica (NEPA), as well as the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB).

In her report to the corporation, Morris said that officers of the TMC’s Town Planning, and Roads and Works Departments will benefit from upskilling and retraining in the administration of the International Building Code, International Fire Code, International Plumbing Code, International Fuel and Gas Code, Caricom Residential Energy Efficiency Building Code, Private Sewage Disposal Code and Property Maintenance Code, Electrical Code, International Mechanical Code, Small Residential Code and Electrical Efficiency Code.

Additionally, as part of the capacity-building programme, she said that technical officers had recently completed courses in ethics and professional conduct, the subdivision process, development orders, the processing of strata applications (strata titling), modification of restricted covenants and application of the Building Act (2018).

“Officers are currently being assessed…and, hopefully, we will start our in-house training in another week or two,” she said.

The courses are being conducted by the Bureau of Standards Jamaica in collaboration with the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) and the International Code Council and are aimed at re-educating town planners and technical officers employed to local authorities to ensure compliance with updated building codes in keeping with international standards.