The National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) effort to develop a model building code (NFPA 5000) continues to move forward. In Baltimore April 26–27, the NFPA 5000 Technical Coordinating Committee (TCC) addressed the following policy and format matters.

Exclusive reference of NFPA standards
In a February letter, the NFPA Standards Council called for exclusive reference in NFPA 5000 of NFPA standards, where they existed. Many code users, including the AIA, are concerned that such a move would cause significant deficiency in the NFPA code, because there would be no direct reference to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) or Underwriters Laboratories (UL) standards. While it is reasonable to assert that the NFPA standards provide safety measures equivalent (if not indistinguishable) to other standards, architects and builders depend heavily on non-published listings for fire-resistive assemblies and flame-spread ratings.

NFPA 5000 not coordinated with the Fire Code
Another significant concern is the lack of coordination between NFPA 1 (the "fire code") and NFPA 5000. These two codes are on different development cycles, which means that the fire code edition referenced in the building code will not match. Any jurisdiction thinking of adopting the building code will have two choices:
1. Make extensive modifications to the 2000 edition of NFPA 1
2. Wait until the 2003 edition of NFPA 1 is published.

The International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) Plumbing and Mechanical Codes have similar problems. Currently, neither code is a consensus document or written in mandatory language; both conditions violate NFPA rules. (The TCC directed the technical committee on building systems to reexamine the IAPMO codes to determine how they approved them for inclusion in the code.)

New building code format approved (but we won't see it until Spring 2002)
The TCC in April also approved a new format for the NFPA 5000. This action follows the Standards Council's rejection of the previous TCC proposal to use the AIA-suggested "common code format." The new "uncommon" format is patterned after the NFPA 101 Life Safety Code's occupancy-driven document. The TCC also establishes an occupancy chapter format that parallels the code structure, so that that each occupancy technical committee can determine which elements of the code are required.

A revised "preprint" of the 5000 code, including an outline of the new format, will be part of the NFPA's Report on Proposals, to be published in August 2001. But the "preprint" itself will follow the original "EPCOT"-based format. The Report on Comments, printed in the spring of 2002, will be the first chance to see the code in its final format.

Copyright 2001 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.