The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS)
Conducts objective, scientific research to identify and promote the most effective ways to strengthen homes, businesses and communities against natural disasters.
The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) is an independent, nonprofit, scientific research and communications organization supported solely by property insurers and reinsurers. IBHS’ building safety research leads to real-world solutions for home and business owners, creating more resilient communities.
The IBHS mission is to conduct objective, scientific research to identify and promote the most effective ways to strengthen homes, businesses, and communities against natural disasters and other causes of loss.
To support its mission, in 2010, the IBHS Research Center was built. It is a state-of-the-art research facility located on a 90-acre parcel of land in Chester County, South Carolina. This unique facility has significantly advanced building science by enabling researchers to evaluate various residential and commercial construction materials and systems more fully and accurately.
This "lab" is also a tangible, very public demonstration of the property insurance industry’s deep commitment to reducing and preventing losses that disrupt the lives of millions of home and business owners each year. IBHS’s scientific research will influence residential and commercial structural design and construction for decades to come.
During the last decade, storms like Katrina, Sandy, Ike, and Irene have demonstrated the critical need to build more resilient homes and businesses. In 2010, IBHS's FORTIFIED Home™ program made engineering and building standards – developed using more than 20 years of storm damage investigations - available to anyone seeking to build a more resilient new, single-family residence.
