“View of the Colosseum” 1747 Giovanni Paolo Panini
Special event safety and sustainability — keeping large groups of people safe and engaged in the event itself — cuts across many disciplines. Educational settlements are ideal settings and the raison d’être for these communities everywhere.
Today we charge through the best practice catalogs of the following standards setting organizations:
At the moment we cover outdoor and indoor events because, conceptually, there is substantial overlap. It is likely, however, that in the fullness of time we will have to break down the coverage between exterior and interior events.
There are a number of titles from the foregoing short list of SDO’s that are open for consultation during the next 30 to 90 days so it is not likely we will have time to examine other niche SDO’s in the special event domain. For example:
Action on open global and government consultations, and examination of developments in the research bibliography will have to wait for another day also. We cover them fairly well in the breakout meetings shown on our CALENDAR.
As always, today’s colloquium in open to everyone with the login credentials available on the upper right of our home page.
The Life Safety Code addresses those construction, protection, and occupancy features necessary to minimize danger to life from the effects of fire, including smoke, heat, and toxic gases created during a fire. It is widely incorporated by reference into public safety statutes; typically coupled with the consensus products of the International Code Council. It is a mighty document — one of the NFPA’s leading titles — so we deal with it in pieces; consulting it for decisions to be made for the following:
(1) Determination of the occupancy classification in Chapters 12 through 42.
(2) Determination of whether a building or structure is new or existing.
(3) Determination of the occupant load.
(4) Determination of the hazard of contents.
There are emergent issues — such as active shooter response, integration of life and fire safety systems on the internet of small things — and recurrent issues such as excessive rehabilitation and conformity criteria and the ever-expanding requirements for sprinklers and portable fire extinguishers with which to reckon. It is never easy telling a safety professional paid to make a market for his product or service that it is impossible to be alive and safe. It is even harder telling the dean of a department how much it will cost to bring the square-footage under his stewardship up to the current code.
The 2021 edition is the current edition and is accessible below:
Public input on the 2027 Revision will be received until June 4, 2024. Public comment on the First Draft of the 2027 Revision will be received until June 3, 2025.
Since the Life Safety Code is one of the most “living” of living documents — the International Building Code and the National Electric Code also move continuously — we can start anywhere and anytime and still make meaningful contributions to it. We have been advocating in this document since the 2003 edition in which we submitted proposals for changes such as:
• A student residence facility life safety crosswalk between NFPA 101 and the International Building Code
• Refinements to Chapters 14 and 15 covering education facilities (with particular attention to door technologies)
• Identification of an ingress path for rescue and recovery personnel toward electric service equipment installations.
• Risk-informed requirement for installation of grab bars in bathing areas
• Modification of the 90-minute emergency lighting requirements rule for small buildings and for fixed interval testing
• Modification of emergency illumination fixed interval testing
• Table 7.3.1 Occupant Load revisions
• Harmonization of egress path width with European building codes
There are others. It is typically difficult to make changes to stabilized standard though some of the concepts were integrated by the committee into other parts of the NFPA 101 in unexpected, though productive, ways. Example transcripts of proposed 2023 revisions to the education facility chapter is linked below:
Since NFPA 101 is so vast in its implications we list a few of the sections we track, and can drill into further, according to client interest:
Chapter 3: Definitions
Chapter 7: Means of Egress
Chapter 12: New Assembly Occupancies
Chapter 13: Existing Assembly Occupancies
Chapter 16 Public Input Report: New Day-Care Facilities
Chapter 17 Public Input Report: Existing Day Care Facilities
Chapter 18 Public Input Report: New Health Care Facilities
Chapter 19 Public Input Report: Existing Health Care Facilities
Chapter 28: Public Input Report: New Hotels and Dormitories
Chapter 29: Public Input Report: Existing Hotels and Dormitories
Chapter 43: Building Rehabilitation
Annex A: Explanatory Material
As always we encourage front-line staff, facility managers, subject matter experts and trade associations to participate directly in the NFPA code development process (CLICK HERE to get started)
NFPA 101 is a cross-cutting title so we maintain it on the agenda of our several colloquia —Housing, Prometheus, Security and Pathways colloquia. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.
Issue: [18-90]
Category: Fire Safety, Public Safety
Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Josh Elvove, Joe DeRosier, Marcelo Hirschler
The development of this standard is coordinated with the ICC Group A Codes. We have tracked concepts in it previous revisions; available in the link below.
As always, we encourage our colleagues with workpoint experience to participate directly in the ICC Code Development process. CLICK HERE to get started.
Issue: [15-283]
Category: Athletics & Recreation, Architectural, Public Safety
Contact: Mike Anthony, Jack Janveja, Richard Robben
An abbreviated list of fashion and textile design schools and colleges in the United States:
Parsons School of Design, New York Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), New York
Pratt Institute, New York
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Savannah, Atlanta, Hong Kong
California College of the Arts, San Francisco
Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles
Academy of Art University, San Francisco
Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
Drexel University, Philadelphia
University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond
Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston
Columbia College Chicago, Chicago
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis
Iowa State University, Ames
University of Georgia, Athens
University of North Texas, Denton
Keep in mind that academies, schools, colleges, universities and institutes serve different purposes within the structure of college or university, with schools being larger and more general in focus, while departments are smaller and more specialized in their areas of study.
In all cases, textiles present elevated chemical, fire, noise and physical hazard associated with textile-related machinery.
New update alert! The 2022 update to the Trademark Assignment Dataset is now available online. Find 1.29 million trademark assignments, involving 2.28 million unique trademark properties issued by the USPTO between March 1952 and January 2023: https://t.co/njrDAbSpwBpic.twitter.com/GkAXrHoQ9T