After a tornado killed 162 people in Joplin, Mo., safety experts and cement manufacturers proposed a way to save lives: Require most new apartments, commercial structures and other large buildings in tornado-prone areas to have safe rooms — concrete boxes where people can shelter, even if the building around them is torn to shreds. Safe rooms provide “near-absolute protection” during a tornado, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They can cost as little as $15,000. …But the 2012 proposal was blocked by… an International Code Council committee made up of building industry representatives and local code officials. The committee found the 2012 safe room proposal to be “overly restrictive and contained several technical flaws.” …“It really does kind of boil down to money,” said Jason Thompson, at the National Concrete Masonry Association. “There’s just different groups out there that want to keep the cost of construction as low as possible.”