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Animal Safety

University of Minnesota: Evaluating biosecure entry and exit protocols and education methods in a mock livestock facility

Evacuation Drills for Horses

“One of the Family” 1880 | Frederick George Cotman

NFPA 150 Fire and Life Safety in Animal Housing Facilities Code has entered its s025 revision cycle.   Many education communities are responsible for animal safety in academic units, research enterprises. museums and even — as in the United Kingdom — large farm animals that wander freely on campus with students, faculty and staff.  The number of colleges and universities that permit students to live with their pets has expanded; and with it the responsibilities of university administration.

From the document scope:

This standard shall provide the minimum requirements for the design, construction, fire protection, and classification of animal housing facilities.  The requirements of NFPA 150 recognize the following fundamental principles:

(1) Animals are sentient beings with a value greater than that of simple property.

(2) Animals, both domesticated and feral, lack the ability of self-preservation when housed in buildings and other structures.

(3) Current building, fire, and life safety codes do not address the life safety of the animal occupants. The requirements found in NFPA 150 are written with the intention that animal housing facilities will continue to be designed, constructed, and maintained in accordance with the applicable building, fire, and life safety codes.

The requirements herein are not intended to replace or rewrite the basic requirements for the human occupants. Instead, NFPA 150 provides additional minimum requirements for the protection of the animal occupants and the human occupants who interact with those animals in these facilities. 

 

A full description of the project is linked below:

Fire and Life Safety in Animal Housing Facilities Code

Access to the 2025 Edition is linked below:

FREE ACCESS NFPA 150

We provide the transcript of the back-and-forth on the current 2022 edition to inform how education communities can contribute to the improvement of this title; a subject that stirs deep feelings about animal safety in research enterprises.

NFPA 150 First Draft Agenda

NFPA 150 Second Draft Report

Public comment on the Second Draft of the 2025 Edition will be received until March 27, 2024.   

We have been advocating risk-informed animal safety concepts in this document since the 2013 Edition and have found that it is nearly impossible to overestimate the sensitivity of educational communities to the life safety of animals — either for agriculture or medical research.

We maintain the entire NFPA catalog on the standing agenda of our Prometheus colloquia.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

"i thank You God for most this amazing day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes" -- e.e.cummings ('Seventy-One Poems' 1950)

 

Issue: [11-1] and [19-5]

Category: Fire Protection, Facility Asset Management, Academic, Risk Management

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Josh Elvove, Joe DeRosier

More:

Protecting Animals When Disaster Strikes

Animals 300

 

Bibliography:

25 Most Pet-Friendly Colleges

National Institute of Health: Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals

International Building Code: Section 304 (Business Group B): Animal hospitals, kennels and pounds

Terrestrial Animal Health Code

IEEE Guide for Animal Deterrents for Electric Power Supply Substations

ASHRAE Animal Facilities

IEEE Livestock Monitoring System

Ventilation Design Handbook on Animal Research Facilities

HVAC Design in Animal Facilities

USDA Animal Welfare Information Center

ISO Assistance Dogs

US Department of Agriculture: Animal Welfare Act and Animal Welfare Regulations

S. 4288: Reducing Animal Testing Act

Guaranteeing safety of animals under risk of fire: conceptual framework and technical issues analysis

Protecting Animals When Disaster Strikes

 

Emergency & Standby Power Systems

FREE ACCESS: 2025 Standard for Emergency and Standby Power Systems

Public Input for 2028 Revision Received Until June 4, 2025

Academy of Art University | San Francisco County

Elevators rely on electricity to function, and when there’s a power outage, the main source of power is disrupted. Modern elevators often have backup power systems, such as generators or battery packs, to lower the cab to the nearest floor and open the doors, but these systems may not work optimally, or be connected to all elevators or may not exist in older or less well-maintained buildings.

Today we start with getting the source of power right; leaving complicating factors such as alarms, reset and restart sequences.   NFPA 110 is the parent standard which references NFPA 70.

NFPA 110 FREE ACCESS

UpCodes Access

Ω

Public Input Report | 5 October 2022

Second Draft Meeting Minutes | 2 February 2023

Public Input No. 31-NFPA 110-2022 [ Section No. 3.2.4 ] | Page 7

National Electrical Code CMP-12

Bibliography

An Overview of NFPA 110

Type 10 Requirements for Emergency Power Systems

Bibliography: Microgrids

Campus Electric Bulk Distribution

Today we will also cut through these transcripts:

2026 Code Panel 6 Public Input Report

2026 Code Panel 6 Public Comment Report

College and university campuses distribute electric energy in tranches of 10 to 250 megawatts; typically at voltages above 1000 VAC and are generally regarded as load-side services (or regulated utility customers). Two fairly stable sections of the National Electrical Code set the standard of care for these systems — Part III of Article 110 and Article 495.

We will examine them during today’s High Voltage Electric Service colloquium.

FREE ACCESS: 2023 National Electrical Code

We collaborate closely with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee which meets online 4 times per month in European and American time zones.  Ahead of the August 2024 public comment deadline we will examine transcripts of technical action on this topic:

2026 National Electrical Code Workspace

Critical Operations Power Systems

Disaster 500


The original University of Michigan codes and standards enterprise advocated actively in Article 708 Critical Operations Power Systems (COPS) of the National Electrical Code (NEC) because of the elevated likelihood that the education facility industry managed assets that were likely candidates for designation critical operations areas by emergency management authorities.

Because the NEC is incorporated by reference into most state and local electrical safety laws, it saw the possibility that some colleges and universities — particularly large research universities with independent power plants, telecommunications systems and large hospitals  — would be on the receiving end of an unfunded mandate.   Many education facilities are identified by the Federal Emergency Management Association as community storm shelters, for example.

As managers of publicly owned assets, University of Michigan Plant Operations had no objection to rising to the challenge of using publicly owned education facilities for emergency preparedness and disaster recovery operations; only that meeting the power system reliability requirements to the emergency management command centers would likely cost more than anyone imagined — especially at the University Hospital and the Public Safety Department facilities.  Budgets would have to be prepared to make critical operations power systems (COPS) resistant to fire and flood damages; for example.

Collaboration with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Industrial Applications Society began shortly after the release of the 2007 NEC.  Engineering studies were undertaken, papers were published (see links below) and the inspiration for the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee developed to provide a gathering place for power, telecommunication and energy professionals to discover and promulgate leading practice.   That committee is now formally a part of IEEE and collaborates with IAS/PES JTCC assigned the task of harmonizing NFPA and IEEE electrical safety and sustainability consensus documents (codes, standards, guidelines and recommended practices.

Transcripts of 2026 Revision:

Public Input Report CMP-13

Public Comment Report CMP-13

The transcript of NEC Code Making Panel 13 — the committee that revises COPS Article 708 every three years — is linked below:

NEC CMP-13 First Draft Balloting

NEC CMP-13 Second Draft Balloting

The 2023 Edition of the National Electrical Code does not contain revisions that affect #TotalCostofOwnership — only refinement of wiring installation practices when COPS are built integral to an existing building that will likely raise cost.  There are several dissenting comments to this effect and they all dissent because of cost.   Familiar battles over overcurrent coordination persist.

Our papers and proposals regarding Article 708 track a concern for power system reliability — and the lack of power  — as an inherent safety hazard.   These proposals are routinely rejected by incumbent stakeholders on NEC technical panels who do not agree that lack of power is a safety hazard.  Even if lack of power is not a safety hazard, reliability requirements do not belong in an electrical wiring installation code developed largely by electricians and fire safety inspectors.  The IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee (IEEE E&H) maintains a database on campus power outages; similar to the database used by the IEEE 1366 committees that develop reliability indices to enlighten public utility reliability regulations.

Public input on the 2026 revision to the NEC will be received until September 7th.  We have reserved a workspace for our priorities in the link below:

2026 National Electrical Code Workspace

Colleagues: Robert Arno, Neal Dowling, Jim Harvey

 

LEARN MORE:

IEEE | Critical Operations Power Systems: Improving Risk Assessment in Emergency Facilities with Reliability Engineering

Consuting-Specifying Engineer | Risk Assessments for Critical Operations Power Systems

Electrical Construction & Maintenance | Critical Operations Power Systems

International City County Management Association | Critical Operations Power Systems: Success of the Imagination

Facilities Manager | Critical Operations Power Systems: The Generator in Your Backyard

Healthcare Facilities Code

“The Doctor”  1891 Sir Luke Fildes

The NFPA 99 Healthcare Facilities Code committee develops a distinct consensus document (i.e. “regulatory product”) that is distinct from National Electrical Code Article 517; though there are overlaps and gaps that are the natural consequence of changing technology and regulations.  It is worthwhile reviewing the scope of each committee:

NFPA 99 Scope: This Committee shall have primary responsibility for documents that contain criteria for safeguarding patients and health care personnel in the delivery of health care services within health care facilities: a) from fire, explosion, electrical, and related hazards resulting either from the use of anesthetic agents, medical gas equipment, electrical apparatus, and high frequency electricity, or from internal or external incidents that disrupt normal patient care; b) from fire and explosion hazards; c) in connection with the use of hyperbaric and hypobaric facilities for medical purposes; d) through performance, maintenance and testing criteria for electrical systems, both normal and essential; and e) through performance, maintenance and testing, and installation criteria: (1) for vacuum systems for medical or surgical purposes, and (2) for medical gas systems; and f) through performance, maintenance and testing of plumbing, heating, cooling , and ventilating in health care facilities.

NFPA 70 Article 517 Scope:  The provisions of this article shall apply to electrical construction and installation criteria in healthcare facilities that provide services to human beings.  The requirements in Parts II and III not only apply to single-function buildings but are also intended to be individually applied to their respective forms of occupancy within a multi-function building (e.g. a doctor’s examining room located within a limited care facility would be required to meet the provisions of 517.10)   Informational Note: For information concerning performance, maintenance, and testing criteria, refer to the appropriate health care facilities documents.

In short, NFPA 70 Article 517 is intended to focus only on electrical safety issues though electrotechnology complexity and integration in healthcare settings (security, telecommunications, wireless medical devices, fire safety, environmental air control, etc.) usually results in conceptual overlap with other regulatory products such as NFPA 101 (Life Safety Code) and the International Building Code.

Several issues were recently debated by the Article 517 technical committee during the 2023 National Electrical Code Second Draft meetings

  • The conditions under which reconditioned electrical equipment be installed in healthcare settings; contingent on listing and re-certification specifics.
  • Relaxation of the design rules for feeder and branch circuit sizing through the application of demand factors.
  • Application of ground fault circuit interrupters.
  • “Rightsizing” feeder and branch circuit power chains (Demand factors in Section 517.22)
  • Patient care space categories
  • Independence of power sources (517.30)

There are, of course, many others, not the least of which involves emergency management.  For over 20 years our concern has been for the interdependency of water and electrical power supply to university hospitals given that many of them are part of district energy systems.

We need to “touch” this code at least once a month because of its interdependence on other consensus products by other standards developing organizations.  To do this we refer NFPA 99 standards action to the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee which meets online four times monthly in European and American time zones.

The transcript of NEC Article 517 Public Input for the 2023 revision of NFPA 70 is linked below.  (You may have to register your interest by setting up a free-access account):

Code-Making Panel 15 (NEC-P15) Public Input Report

Code-Making Panel 15 (NEC-P15) Public Comment Report

Technical committees will meet in June to endorse the 2023 National Electrical Code.

Public consultation on the Second Draft closes May 31st. Landing page for selected sections of the 2024 revision  of NFPA 99 are linked below:

Electrical Systems (HEA-ELS)

Fundamentals (HEA-FUN)

Health Care Emergency Management and Security (HEA-HES)

Second Draft Comments are linked below:

Electrical Systems (HEA-ELS)

Fundamentals (HEA-FUN)

Health Care Emergency Management and Security (HEA-HES)

NITMAM closing date: March 28, 2023

We break down NFPA 70 and NFPA 99 together and keep them on the standing agenda of both our Power and Health colloquia; open to everyone.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting.

"The trained nurse has become one of the great blessings of humanity, taking a place beside the physician and the priest" - William Osler"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about" - Angela Schwindt "The true art of pediatrics lies not only in curing diseases but also in preventing them" - Abraham JacobiGermany

Issues: [12-18, [15-97] and [16-101]

Contact: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey, Robert Arno, Josh Elvove, Joe DeRosier, Larry Spielvogel

NFPA Staff Liaison: Jonathan Hart

Archive / NFPA 99

Delta Upsilon Fraternity House (1331 Hill Street)

Chartered in 1876, and having outgrown its home by the early 1900s, its alumni hired Detroit architect Albert Kahn for his earliest surviving non-industrial, non-commercial commissions.  Kahn created a handsome 2½-story Tudor Revival building with half-timbered stucco exterior, slate roof, prominent gables.  It pioneered the shift of fraternities to Hill Street, inspiring many others to follow.  The house has been continuously occupied by the fraternity since completion—the oldest such in Ann Arbor. It earned National Register of Historic Places listing in 1995.

Data Center Wiring

The bookwheel, also known as a revolving bookcase, was invented by an Italian scholar and polymath named Agostino Ramelli. Ramelli was born in 1531 in Ponte Tresa, a town in present-day Italy, and he lived during the Renaissance period.

Ramelli’s invention, described in his work titled “Le diverse et artificiose machine del capitano Agostino Ramelli” (The Various and Ingenious Machines of Captain Agostino Ramelli), was published in 1588. This book showcased a collection of 195 mechanical devices.  

Ramelli’s work contributed to the growing interest in mechanical inventions during the Renaissance period. His bookwheel design remains a fascinating example of early engineering and ingenuity, highlighting the desire for knowledge and practical solutions in the pursuit of learning and scholarly endeavors.

2026 NEC Articles 645-646-647 Information Technology Equipment, et. al First Draft Report

2026 NEC Articles 645-646-647 Information Technology Equipment, et. al Second Draft Report

“Bookwheel” Early Data Center

The standard of care for wiring safety for data centers —  a continually expanding presence in education communities even before the pandemic  — is established in National Electrical Code Articles 645 (Information Technology Equipment), Article 646 (Modular Data Centers) and Article 647 (Sensitive Electronic Equipment).   You will notice that these articles cover the topic comprehensively and bear the imprint of competing Producer-Interest groups.  There are no User-Interest representatives on Code-Making Panel 12 that represent the final fiduciary in education communities even though education communities are one of the largest markets for information and communication technology systems.

The current version of NFPA 70 is linked below:

2026 National Electrical Code

2023 National Electrical Code

Transcripts  of technical committee action during the 2026 revision (CMP-16) are linked below because they will inform our recommendations for the 2026 National Electrical Code.  Keep in mind that the Technical Correlating Committee is moving content around the Code in order to make the NEC easier to use by experts.

CMP-16 First Draft Report | Public Input with Committee Response 

CMP-16 Second Draft Report

The transcripts of technical committee action during the 2023 revision are linked below because they will inform our recommendations for the 2026 National Electrical Code.

Code‐Making Panel 12 Public Input Report

Code-Making Panel 12 Public Comment Report

National Electrical Code CMP-12

We will use these in our exploration of what we might propose for improvements in the 2026 revision.  Public comment on the First Draft of the 2026 Edition will be received until August 28th.

The issues that have been in play in these articles of the NEC are familiar to veterans of the “food fight” – occupancy classification, cable specifications, fire protection, ventilation, energy consumption, surge protection, licensing of engineers. etc.  We look for market-making excesses by opposing stakeholders that seek to limit their risk while raising the (financial) risk to education communities.

We encourage our colleagues to participate in the NFPA code development process directly.  We also encourage stakeholders in education communities — students, faculty and staff  to join us during any of the teleconferences we co-host with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee 4 times monthly in both European and American time zones.   See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting.

"One day ladies will take their computers for walks in the park and tell each other, "My little computer said such a funny thing this morning" - Alan Turing

 

Related standards:

NFPA 75: Standard for the Fire Protection of Information Technology Equipment

2024 International Building Code: Special Detailed Requirements Based on Occupancy and Use

2024 International Building Code: Section 304.1 Business Group B

National Electrical Definitions

NFPA Glossary of Terms

International Building Code Chapter 2: Definitions

International Electrotechnical Commission: Electropedia

Because electrotechnology changes continually, definitions (vocabulary) in its best practice literature changes continually; not unlike any language on earth that adapts to the moment and place.

The changes reflect changes in technology or changes in how the technology works in practice; even how the manufacturers create adaptations to field conditions by combining functions.   Any smart electrical component has a digital language embedded in it, for example.

Consider the 2023 National Electrical Code.  Apart from many others the NEC will contain a major change to Article 100 (Definitions); the subject of elevated debate over the past three years.

When we refer “language” we must distinguish between formal language, informal language, colloquial language and dialect which may differ the language spoken, language written at the office and language used on the job site.  “Terms of art”

2026 National Electrical Code | CMP-1 Second Draft Report 

FREE ACCESS: 2020 National Electrical Code (NFPA 70)

2023 NEC Public Input Report CMP-1 (868 pages)

2023 NEC Second Draft Public Comment Report (914 pages)

Are these terms (or, “terms of art”) best understood in context (upstream articles in Chapters 4 through 8) — or should they be adjudicated by the 14 Principals of Code Making Panel 1?   The answer will arrive in the fullness of time.   Many changes to the National Electrical Code require more than one cycle to stabilize.

Code Making Panel 1 has always been the heaviest of all NEC panels.  As explained n our ABOUT, the University of Michigan held a vote in CMP-1 for 20+ years (11 revision cycles) before moving to the healthcare facilities committee for the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee.  Standards Michigan continues its involvement on behalf of the US education facility industry — the second largest building construction market.  There is no other pure user-interest voice on any technical committee; although in some cases consulting companies are retained for special purposes.

To serve the purpose of making NFPA 70 more “useable” we respect the Standards Council decision to make this change if it contributes to the viability of the NFPA business model.  We get to say this because no other trade association comes close to having as enduring and as strong a voice:  NFPA stands above all other US-based SDO’s in fairness and consideration of its constituency.  The electrical safety community in the United States is a mighty tough crowd.

If the change does not work, or work well enough, nothing should prohibit reversing the trend toward “re-centralizing” — or “de-centralizing” the definitions.

Public comment on the First Draft of the 2026 Edition will be received until August 28, 2024. 

Technical Committees meet during the last half of October to respond to public comment on the First Draft of the 2026 National Electrical Code. 

Electrical Contractor: Round 1 of the 2023 NEC: A summary of proposed changes (Mark Earley, July 15, 2021)

Electrical Contractor: 2023 Code Article and Definition Revisions: Accepting (NEC) change, part 2 (Mark Earley, March 15, 2022)

Fire Alarm & Signaling Code

“Prometheus Bound” | Thomas Cole (1847)

NFPA 72 National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code is one of the core National Fire Protection Association titles widely incorporated by reference into public safety legislation.   NFPA 72 competes with titles of “similar” scope — International Fire Code — developed by the International Code Council.  We place air quotes around the word similar because there are gaps and overlaps depending upon whether or not each is adopted partially or whole cloth by the tens of thousands of jurisdictions that need both.

Our contact with NFPA 72 dates back to the early 2000’s when the original University of Michigan advocacy enterprise began challenging the prescriptive requirements for inspection, testing and maintenance (IT&M) in Chapter 14.  There are hundreds of fire alarm shops, and thousands of licensed fire alarm technicians in the education facility industry and the managers of this cadre of experts needed leadership in supporting their lower #TotalCostofOwnership agenda with “code-writing and vote-getting”.   There was no education industry trade association that was even interested, much less effective, in this space so we had to do “code writing and vote getting” ourselves (See ABOUT).

Code writing and vote getting means that you gather data, develop relationships with like minded user-interests, find agreement where you can, then write proposals and defend them at NFPA 72 technical committee meetings for 3 to 6 years.  Prevailing in the Sturm und Drang of code development for 3 to 6 years should be within the means of business units of colleges and universities that have been in existence for 100’s of years.  The real assets under the stewardship of these business units are among the most valuable real assets on earth.

Consider the standard of care for inspection, testing and maintenance.  Our cross-cutting experience in over 100 standards suites allows us to say with some authority that, at best the IT&M tables of NFPA 72 Chapter 14 present easily enforceable criteria for IT&M of fire alarm and signaling systems.  At worst, Chapter 14 is a solid example of market-making by incumbent interests as the US standards system allows.   Many of the IT&M requirements can be modified for a reliability, or risk-informed centered maintenance program but fire and security shops in the education industry are afraid to apply performance standards because of risk exposure.   This condition is made more difficult in large universities that have their own maintenance and enforcement staff.  The technicians see opportunities to reduce IT&M frequencies — thereby saving costs for the academic unit facility managers — the enforcement/compliance/conformity/risk management professionals prohibit the application of performance standards.  They want prescriptive standards for bright line criteria to make their work easier to measure.

While we have historically focused on Chapter 14 we have since expanded our interest into communication technologies within buildings since technicians and public safety personnel depend upon them.  Content in Annex G — Guidelines for Emergency Communication Strategies for Buildings and Campuses — is a solid starting point and reflects of our presence when the guidance first appeared in the 2016 Edition.  We shall start with a review of the most recent transcript of the NFPA Technical Committee on Testing and Maintenance of Fire Alarm and Signaling Systems

NFPA 72 First Draft Meeting (A2024)

Public Emergency Reporting Systems (SIG-PRS) First Draft

Public comment of the First Draft of the 2025 Edition is receivable until May 31, 2023.   As always, we encourage direct participation in the NFPA process by workpoint experts with experience, data and even strong opinions about shortcomings and waste in this discipline.  You may key in your proposals on the NFPA public input facility linked below:

https://www.nfpa.org/login

You will need to set up a (free) NFPA TerraView account.   Alternatively, you may join us any day at 11 AM US Eastern time or during our Prometheus or Radio colloquia.   See our CALENDAR for the online meeting.

Issue: [15-213]

Category: Fire Safety & Security, #SmartCampus, Informatics

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Joe DeRosier, Josh Elvove, Jim Harvey, Marcelo Hirschler

More

2013 NFPA 72 National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code (357 pages)

TIA-222 Standard For Towers And Antenna Supporting Structures

 

Emergency Communication Strategies for Buildings

 

ARCHIVE / NFPA 72

National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security

 

Commercial Cooking Operations

Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations

Food Science & Technology | University of California Davis

We’ll be getting down into the weeds today; starting with these transcripts:

First Draft Public Input Report

Second Draft Public Comment Report

Related:

Commercial Kitchens

Ventilation for Commercial Cooking Operations

 

More than 4,000 cadets gather for lunch inside Mitchell Hall at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., Aug. 10, 2009. A staff of 200 food service professionals prepare nearly 13,000 meals per day for cadets throughout the academic year. (U.S. Air Force photo/Ann Patton)

 

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