A wise man once said 'to the making of many books (or codes) there is no end and much devotion to them is wearisome'.
That being said, when it comes to codes and specs here is a little bit of: BUILDING CODES a brief history (this comes from
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/Codes.html)
* The Uniform Building Code was first enacted by the International Conference of Building Officials (ICBO) on October 18-21, 1927. Revised editions of this code are published approximately every 3 years.
* The California Building Code was approved and incorporated into the UBC in 1988. In California we use the California Building Code and San Francisco uses the San Francisco Building Code.
* The new national code is the International Building Code (IBC) first produced in 2000 by the International Code Council (ICC). It combines the three model building codes published by BOCA (Building Officials Code Administrators), ICBO (International Conference of Building Officials) and SBCCI (Southern Building Code Congress International). Check with the specific community planning or building department to find out which codes apply to your project.
http://www.iccsafe.org/* The 2007 Triennial Edition of CCR, Title 24 (California Building Standards Code) applies to all occupancies that applied for a building permit and remains in effect until the effective date of the new triennial edition. Some codes available online as PDF files. Refer to the California Building Standards Commission.
http://www.bsc.ca.gov/It all has to do with the acronyms!
Current specs may invoke the "IBC" per the state the work is being performed in for the building code (all 50 states have adopted the IBC to one degree or another); wherein that code will defer to many more codes (such as AWS for welding, etc.). One of the important sections of the IBC is 17 - Special Inspections. If the EOR specifies the IBC, take care to understand the ramifications of IBC 17; and to determine when to take advantage of the exceptions within that section for fabricators (1704.2.2).
ziggy