Industry Standards
15 articles in this category
Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
The pharmaceutical industry is an important component of health care systems around the world that provides a great variety of medicines for numerous health care needs. Both public and private...
NFPA 13 Updated Guidance for Concealed Spaces
NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems (2019 edition), consolidated and updated its guidance regarding the need for automatic sprinklers in concealed spaces. Section 9.2.1...
Fire Protection Guidance for Miscellaneous, Work-in-Process, and Low-Piled Storage
The most current editions of NFPA 13 (2019), Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems, and FM Global Property Loss Prevention Data Sheet (FMDS) 3-26 (April 2019), Sprinkler Design for...
The Risk-Based Approach of NFPA 99, Health Care Facilities Code
The 1961 Hartford Hospital fire sparked changes in hospital safety procedures and building codes that remain in place more than five decades later. On the afternoon of December 8th, a fire broke out...
Flammable, Combustible & Ignitable Liquid Classification According to NFPA, FM Global and DOT
The Department of Transportation (DOT), NFPA and FM Global are very different in how they classify flammable, combustible & ignitable liquids. NFPA 30, Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code, is...
Significant Changes to the 2016 Edition of NFPA 13
Several important changes are forthcoming in the release of the 2016 edition of NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems. The most important change is the addition of protection...

NFPA 704 and the New OSHA Hazardous Material Labeling
You might have noticed that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has been making a shift in labeling requirements for chemicals. The new system is the United Nations Globally...
Codes and Standards
What is a Standard? What is a Code? Why do they change so much? If they change, are we protected properly with the old standard we designed to? Codes Codes are consensus documents that are revised...
NFPA 3 Commissioning and Integrated Test of Fire Protection and Life Safety Systems
This is a new NFPA recommended practice, as opposed to standard. It outlines a systematic approach to provide documented confirmation that the fire protection and/or life-safety systems, as...
International Building and Fire Code Adoption - By State
The table below has been published by the International Codes Council (www.iccsafe.org). It is up to date as of July 15, 2011. STATE INTERNATIONAL BUILDING CODE...
Automatic Sprinklers and High-Volume Low Speed Fans - What to Do?
HVLS fans were originally used in Australia in the dairy industry to help keep humidity low for the cattle. When the original design was introduced in Australia, it was mandatory for the HVLS fans to...
Fire Barrier Designations
Floors and walls designed as fire separations have been recognized for many years as efficient tools for restricting fires to the area of origin or limiting fire spread. Prior to 1900, relative fire...