During the past year, a number of fires have made national and international news at buildings under construction. These have been at structures that are being built and occupancies undergoing tenant improvements (TI).
These fires start in some cases through arson and on other occasions through the construction process, which includes “hot works.”
In the United States, there has been a move during the past several years to include within the model building and fire codes requirements for the installation of temporary fire detection within a building undergoing construction. This has not met with success yet.
The argument proffered is that there are no installation requirements within NFPA 72, National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code. Those on the committees for these codes state that, prior to adding a requirement to the model codes, the requirements for installation should be within the installation standard.
Another point raised is that there are no listed devices in the U.S. market. This becomes a catch-22 as the listing authorities state that there are no requirements for these systems at the present time.
This is true for the states, but across the pond, there are requirements for systems at construction sites. Within the United Kingdom, construction sites will have, at a minimum, call points, which are equivalent to a manual pull station located throughout the site. These are principally wireless. Within the U.K. codes, the direction to the designer is to have automatic fire detection where planned.
Following Industry Guidance
Further direction in The Joint Code of Practice on the Protection from Fire of Construction Sites and Buildings Undergoing Renovation states, “…for fire alarm systems that any means utilized for giving warning of fire on a site.”
The most basic system may be no more than a handheld siren or manually operated gong. Certain sites, by their size and nature, may require ‘break glass’ call points, which, when broken, electronically operate bells, klaxons, or sirens.
Within this same document, a fire alarm system is defined as “a system comprising components for automatically detecting a fire, initiating an alarm, and initiating other action as appropriate.”
Within the United States, there is NFPA 241, Standard for Safeguarding Construction, Alteration, and Demolition Operations. This standard has been published since 1968.
The current edition is 2022. In the latest edition, there is a new paragraph 4.6, which states, “Where a fire alarm system is installed in a building under alteration, the system shall comply with NFPA 72.” First, this only addresses an existing building, not new construction.
Second, there are no specific requirements within NFPA 72 for a system being used within a building undergoing an alteration.
What’s Next
At this time, the 2028 edition is under development. The First Draft meetings have concluded. During this phase, public input was received to add requirements within NFPA 72 for temporary systems in a building under construction. This suggestion was rejected, but this did not remove it from consideration.
A task group was formed between members of NFPA 72 and 241 to explore the concept. The members of NFPA 241 opine that this is required but should be under the purview of NFPA 72.
During the recently concluded meeting of the NFPA 72 Correlating Committee, it was voted on to create a new Chapter 28, which would be for temporary systems. The Task Group has been charged with working with the language that was in the PI for this new chapter.
The chapter has been assigned to the Technical Committee on Protected Premises (SIG-PRO) for the Second Draft meeting that will be held in August of this year.
This new chapter, if approved, will be similar to Chapter 29, Single- and Multiple-Station Alarms and Household Signaling Systems, in that it will be inclusive, with all requirements contained for temporary systems within the chapter.
UL and other nationally recognized testing laboratories (NRTL) will also need to develop a listing for the devices and appliances that would comprise these systems.
There is a need for the installation of temporary systems at construction sites. With the work being done within the NFPA, there should be codified provisions for these systems within the next several years.
