I work for A City Government and have been forced to work in a bldg. that does not pass International Building Codes on Plumbing,Fire and Building. It has only one egress , no operable bathrooms and has no Fire ext. Would this be considered a unsafe work environment? I have already filed a greviance with the Personel Board and awaiting their investagation? Should I file a civil lawsuit?

Building codes are not established at the international level.

They are established at the Federal further restricted to the state, county and even city level.

It would help to know where this actually is as this is an international site..

If you have filed a grievance then wait for the result.

If in U.S. you should have plenty of options before going to the expense of filing lawsuit. Fire Dept. (Marshal) should be able to rule on fire concerns. Health dept, (city and/or state) regarding bathroom facilities. State safety divisions usually get involved in these issues too. Usually folks are concerned about remaining anonymous with these type complaints. You don't have that problem apparently. Or maybe you have a problem and just don't know it yet. Grievances often take years. If you have fire concerns especially blow the whistle. Depending on the responses from the different agencies you will also be able to determine if a lawsuit would be successful or not, before you star incurring expenses. Government employers usually always have an ace in the hole. If there is no money in the budget to cover the cost of a remedy, they know they will get cut some slack. Even government contracts in my experience have a budget clause they can use, even to cancel a formal contract.