Quincy, MA – The codes and standards development oversight body of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), known as the Standards Council, has issued two of the Association’s key safety codes that will require fire sprinklers in all nursing homes, in new construction of one- and two-family dwellings, and in all new construction of nightclubs and like facilities, as well as for existing nightclubs and like facilities with capacities of more than 100.
The provisions apply to the 2006 editions of NFPA 101(r), Life Safety Code(r) and NFPA 5000(r), Building Construction and Safety Code(r); they go into effect on August 18. The Standards Council action endorsed the report of the applicable NFPA technical committees and the subsequent membership action at the NFPA World Safety Conference & Exposition(r) in early June in Las Vegas.
The nightclub provision for sprinklers – which mandates sprinklers for new nightclubs, generally applicable to more than 50-occupant capacities – was first added to NFPA 101 and NFPA 5000, after a TIA, or tentative interim amendment, had been approved by the Standards Council in 2003. A similar TIA was issued for NFPA 101 for existing nightclubs with capacities over 100. These TIAs came in the aftermath of the February 2003 Station Nightclub fire in West Warwick, R.I., where 100 people had died. In the NFPA code development process, TIAs are presented as proposals for the next edition of the code, in this case, the 2006 edition.
Also in 2003, horrific nursing home fires in Hartford and Nashville propelled the health care industry, as well as NFPA, to respond with a push for better fire protection in these facilities, specifically calling for enhancing the current requirement in NFPA 101 for sprinklers in all new nursing homes by also requiring sprinklers in all existing nursing homes.
NFPA’s report on the Hartford nursing home fire, in which 16 died, was recently issued and is available at http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/PDF/FIHartfordSummary.pdf.
