Local health rules and building regulations: a survey on local hygiene and building regulations in Italian municipalities

Introduction. WHO has highlighted the need to strengthen the relationship between health and built environment factors, such as inappropriate housing conditions. Local Health Rules (LHRs) and Building Regulations (BRs) are tools which provide safety and building hygiene in construction practices. Currently the Italian Government is considering to establish a National Building Regulation and, related to the following purpose, this paper presents a survey on the status of adoption and updating of LHRs and BRs in Italian municipalities. Methodology. The current Italian state of LHRs, BRs and Municipal Development Plans (MDPs) have been examined by a survey considering a sample of about 550 cities, with different demographic and geographic features, starting from the previous research work by Signorelli et al. (1999). Results. The analysis underlines a serious shortage of updated LHRs, especially in small and medium-sized municipalities whereas BRs and MDPs are widespread. Only 30% of them are previously approved and validated by Local Health Authorities. Conclusion. Starting from a survey, the present scenario of Building Regulations requires the introduction of further performance guidelines instead of normative ones and, therefore, the current actions to give rise to a National Building Regulation could be integrated by building hygiene contents of LHRs.