American Society of Mechanical Engineers

Colleges and universities have stepped up their game in student housing;

owing to the financing opportunities offered by Real Estate Investment Trusts.

There are several noteworthy proposals now under consideration by the ICC Building Code Action Committee (BCAC) that are being prepared for the 2021 International Code Council’s meetings April 15 to 25, 2018 in Columbus, Ohio.   These proposals are intended to set safety standards for evolving occupancies and use classes.  See links below:

BCAC_Efficiency Apartments Draft_Progress_Report_171113(2) File 17-318

2018 IBC SECTION 1209 DRAFT TEXT File 17-318

8 clustered single user toilet rooms JULY29 File 17-318

Ahead of these meetings, or information about how to participate, may be directed to Ed Wirtschorek (ewirtschoreck@iccsafe.org).  We will also place these on tomorrow’s Open Door teleconference, to which everyone is welcomed:

Contact

Issue: [17-318]

Contact: Mike Anthony (mike@standards michigan.com), Richard Robben (rrobben1951@gmail.com)

University of Houston | Calhoun Lofts

Both Mike and Rich are attending the MIAPPA Summer Conference at Ferris State University this week and are available to answer questions about the status of the technical and management standard advocacy enterprise begun at the University of Michigan in 1993 that ran until 2016.  

Last year’s advocacy report — prepared for MIAPPA members — is linked below:

@StandardsUMich-Report-to-MIAPPA-Summer-2016 (1)

The backstory about the original University of Michigan Plant Operations enterprise to increase safety and reduce #TotalCostofOwnership for our “cities-within-cities” through assertive participation in consensus standards was covered in our presentation at the Winter meeting at Saginaw Valley State University in March.  For the convenience of our colleagues a few keys points summarized then are listed again below:

1.  The Simon Institute is publishing the first three ANSI accredited custodial standards for one of the largest cost centers in the US education facilities industry:

• Cleaning Chemical Handlers Permit – SI 0001
• Determining Custodial Workloads, Frequencies and Tasks – SI 0002
• Janitorial Storage, Utility and Work Areas – SI 0003

2. The 2017 National Electrical Code will contain two advocacy achievements on electrical safety and security, 9 years in the making:

• §110.5 | Bright line language that clarifies that the National Electrical Code permits the use of  aluminum wiring for buildings and large medium voltage campus power distribution systems.  
• §220.12 | Lighting supply circuits may be reduced to 2-1/2 watts per square foor from 3-1/2 watts per square foot.  IEEE article on the 2014 NEC change (other trade journals will be covering our 2017 change):

IEEE IAS Article on NEC 220 Anthony Harmon Harvey July August 2016

Note: All electrical power, telecommunication and information technology concepts are being formulated in collaboration with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee which meets on line bi-weekly in American and European time zones and is focused on developing IEEE standards for campus power and telecommunications infrastructure for the emergent #SmartCampus.   A 2020 NEC workgroup has already begun coordinated mark up of the 2017 NEC with the IEEE SCC18 and meets 2x weekly on Friday and Saturday.   MIAPPA members are welcomed to log in with the information available at this link:  NFPA 70-Series Workgroup

3. With the funding provided by MIAPPA and others, the NFPA Fire Protection Research Foundation has completed Phase I of a study intended to “rightsize” the building premise power chains that are most common in the US education facilities industry.   The study in its entirety is available at this link:  Evaluation of Electrical Feeder and Branch Circuit Loading

4. The Office of Regulatory Reinvention is making significant changes to Bureau of Construction Code administration.  Some of the changes are those for which we have been advocating for the past 3 years — namely, putting a check on incumbent interests.   One particular legislative proposal should be of interest: S.B. 963 Skilled Trades Regulation Act

5. The Michigan Energy Code (adapted from the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code) was adopted February 8, 2016.   We opted to advocate in the ASHRAE suite rather than directly in the IECC which was a more cost effective use of advocacy resources.

6. We continue to follow user-interest advocacy for performance-based inspection, testing & maintenance in ISEA Z358.1 ANSI Standard for Emergency Shower and Eyewash Equipment, though this priority has been spun off to subject matter experts at Northwestern University and APPA.

7. We continue encouraging proposals and comments on ANSI accredited and open source consensus documents that affect #TotalCostofOwnership by knowledgeable facility professionals of all disciplines and in other education industry trade associations.

Link to Rich Robben presentation: MIAPPA winter conf presentation – Rich Robben

NFPA-FPRI report on first of two phases of research investigating underloaded building power systemshttps://t.co/7OwFlJlGWI pic.twitter.com/magQqSRY0J

— Standards Michigan (@StandardsMich) January 17, 2017

Regulatory Advocacy Update for MiAPPA Senior Facilities Officers | Winter 2017