March 21, 2000, St. Paul, MN – The International Code
Council, Inc. (ICC) announced today the formation of
a consensus committee to establish appropriate, reasonable
and enforceable model health and safety provisions for
installation of all types of bleachers. The objectives
of the committee include the development of comprehensive,
coordinated and contemporary retrofit provisions for
existing bleacher installations.
The ICC is responding to a need that was
highlighted when the Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC) held a Chairman's Roundtable in December 1999
on Bleachers and Grandstands. CPSC was petitioned by
U.S. Congressmen Bill Luther and Jim Ramstad of Minnesota,
citing "numerous recent injuries to children at basketball
and hockey arenas resulting from falls between the gaps
of bleacher seats and guardrails." Over 50 bleacher
accidents in the Minnesota and Wisconsin area were also
cited.
The State of Minnesota has expressed strong interest
in the area of improving current building code provisions
relative to new bleacher construction and the lack of
regulation of existing unsafe bleacher structures. "Current
codes and standards do not clearly and practically address
all of the issues relevant to retrofitting bleachers
for safety," states Scott McLellan, Supervisor, Plan
Review and Regional Services, State of Minnesota. "Clearly,
there is a need for the development of a model standard
specific to eliminating the hazards associated with
existing bleacher seating."
Minnesota's leadership and experience in
retrofitting bleachers for safety and desire to improve
the stock of bleachers will be the lynchpin in this
national ICC effort.
ICC intends to move forward in establishing
bleacher retrofit standards that can be adopted by an
estimated 40,000-plus jurisdictions in the United States
that already enforce building and other fire and safety
codes, using the ICC's open voluntary consensus process
accredited by the American National Standards Institute
(ANSI). The consensus committee will be considering
numerous authoritative sources of relevant information.
