|
Tell
us about this
year’s conference
 If
you attended the ICC Annual Conference in Detroit, were you satisfied
with the event? Did you enjoy the schedule of events? How were the accommodations?
 ICC
is asking attendees to send their thoughts about last month’s conference
through an online survey. Feedback will be used in planning for future
events, beginning with the 2006 Codes Forum in Sacramento, California.
Deadline
for survey has passed.
Rhode Island nightclub
owners want charges dropped. The owners of The Station nightclub in
West Warwick, where 100 people died in a fast-moving fire in 2003, are
asking a judge to throw out manslaughter charges against them. A motion
seeking partial dismissal of counts against Michael and Jeffrey Derderian
says the deaths were accidental. The defense also argues that the club's
owners were not given fair notice, despite inspections by fire and building
officials, that the flammable foam they installed as soundproofing violated
state fire codes.
Canada set to adopt new building code. The National Building Code
of Canada will be simpler and more innovation friendly for developers
and property owners. The new code allows architects and engineers to suggest
alternatives to meeting objectives described in their building permit
applications, rather than defining materials and specifications, as the
old code did. Nearly 1,300 technical changes have been incorporated into
the 2005 code—the first update to Canada's building code since 1995.
 |
ICC and International
Accreditation Service (IAS) collaborate to release updated permit fees publication.
In a joint publishing venture, IAS and ICC have collaborated to release
a new and improved second edition of the popular Establishing Building
Permit Fees. This second edition includes an extensive amount of new
information and is almost 400 pages, nearly double the size of the previous
edition. Four service cost recovery methodologies for establishing plan
check and inspection fees based on service costs are covered. In addition,
service level issues associated with plan check and inspection services
are discussed. Establishing Building Permit Fees is an excellent
resource to assist jurisdictions in the assignment of fair and equitable
fees for services that it provides to the user community.
New 2004 Florida Building Commentary is available. In cooperation
with Eric Stafford and Associates, the new 2004 Florida Building Code Commentary
is now available for purchase in print or electronic format. This comprehensive
publication is approximately 2,000 pages in length and comes in a two volume,
soft cover format. The basis and rationale for specific requirements of
the code are provided along with supporting illustrations and diagrams to
aid individuals in the proper application of the code.
Oct. 12-13,
AACE, Orlando, FL
Oct. 13-15, 2005 Sunbelt Builders Show, Grapevine, TX
Oct. 13-15, Remodeling Show 2005, Baltimore, MD
Oct. 17-18, CAAK Fall Conference, Kentucky Village Dam, KY
Oct. 17-18, CTBUH 2005, New York, NY
Oct. 18, Society of Fire Protection Engineers, San Diego, CA
Oct. 18-19, Illinois Fire Chiefs Association, Peoria, IL
Oct. 19-21, World Federation of Engineering, Puerto Rico
Oct. 20-21, IBHS on Property Loss Reduction, Lake Buena Vista,
FL
Oct. 20-22, Structural Engineers Association of Texas, Dallas,
TX
Oct. 21-22, Virginia Building Safety & Code Council, Hampton,
VA
Oct. 26-28, Texas Municipal League, Grapevine, TX
Oct. 27-28, NCSEA Kansas City Conference, Kansas City, KS
Oct. 31-Nov. 3, FFMIA, Amelia Island, FL
Oct. 31-Nov. 4, AZBO Fall Show, Prescott, AZ
ICC
ePARTNERS
Volume 1, Issue 7
October, 2005
ICC
Vision and Mission Statements
Vision
Protecting the health, safety, and welfare of people by creating better
buildings and safer communities.
Mission
Providing the highest quality codes, standards, products, and services
for all concerned with the safety and performance of the built environment.
CEO James Lee Witt
and COO Rick Weiland appreciate your feedback on this enewsletter.
Please send your comments to Dominic
Sims, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, 1-888-ICC-SAFE (422-7233),
ext. 5267.
For more information
on ICC’s Strategic Partners, Supporting Organizations and Participating
Organizations, click
here.
To
subscribe to ePartners, click
here.
|
|
|
|
ICC, IAPMO sign MOU regarding joint codes
 Board
of Directors Past President Frank Hodge announced during the Annual
Conference that ICC and the International Association of Plumbing and
Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) regarding a joint venture relating to the development of future
plumbing and mechanical codes.
The
parties intend to explore a joint venture that would allow them to work
cooperatively to develop successor codes to the Uniform and International
Plumbing and Mechanical Codes. The new system would utilize
the Governmental Consensus process to create and maintain the codes that
result from the proposed joint venture.
ICC
urges industry representatives to participate in code development process
 Building
safety and fire prevention officials serving as voting representatives
of ICC processed 2,200 proposed changes to the 2003 International Codes
during the 2004-05 Code Development Cycle. More than 500 of these proposals
were individually considered and acted upon at the Final Action Hearings
in Detroit, Michigan. The hearings were held in conjunction with the ICC
Annual Conference, Sept. 25-Oct. 2.
In response
to concerns that have been voiced about the results of code change proposals
to the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and others,
ICC encourages all parties involved in the building safety and fire prevention
industry to continue participating in its code development process.
"Only the
best interests of protecting the lives and property of citizens enter
into the hearings rooms," said ICC CEO James Lee Witt. "ICC's open
code development process allows for public input and comment and a consensus
vote among its governmental jurisdictions that are enforcing the codes.
The process works."
The 2006-07
ICC Code Development Cycle begins with the deadline for receipt of applications
for the Code Development Committees on Jan. 3, 2006. The deadline for
receipt of code change proposals is March 24, 2006.
For more
information on the ICC code development process, click
here. For a complete schedule of the 2006-07 cycle, click
here. The results of the Final Action Hearings in Detroit can be accessed
by clicking
here.
Raymer
presented
 Affiliate
Award
Robert
Raymer, Technical Director for the California Building Industry Association,
was presented the ICC Affiliate Award during the recent Annual Conference
held in Detroit, Michigan.
Raymer
began his career with the California Building Industry Association nearly
25 years ago as a Staff Engineer and today represents home builders at
the local, state and national levels on code-related issues. His lobbying
efforts were crucial to the California Building Standards Commission's
decision earlier this year to change course and recommend the International
Building, Residential and Fire Codes for adoption in
the state.
For more
news from this year's conference, click
here.
MOU
signed with Mexico's National
Commission of Housing Promotion
 An
ICC contingent recently traveled to Mexico City to meet with Mexican President
Vincente Fox and sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the country's
National Commission of Housing Promotion.
Under the
MOU, ICC will help Mexico develop a residential building code based on
the IRC. The agreement previously was signed in the U.S. during Building
Safety Week.
ICC
hurricane response
Through its Disaster Response Network, ICC continues to assist with recovery
efforts in the areas affected by the hurricanes.
There have
been several reports of building safety and fire prevention officials,
who volunteered through a database compilied by ICC, assisting with building
damage assessmenst and inspections in the Gulf Coast region. ICC’s DRN
has been added to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) National Emergency
Resource Registry and state and local emergency management officials are
being notified of the availability of the network.
ICC has
partnered with the Applied Technology Council to provide refresher training
for members of its DRN in hurricane- affected areas. A Web-based bulletin
board is also available to help the fire service and building safety professionals
impacted by the hurricanes. The bulletin board is designed to help the
professionals and their families find places to stay following the devastating
hurricane.
For more
information on ICC’s involvement with the hurricane recovery efforts,
click
here.
ICC
gets good marks on Customer
Service Report Card
 Measurement
of ICC customer service showed 67 percent of respondents were very satisfied
with the customer service representative's level of knowledge; 73 percent
were very satisfied with the overall level of customer service they received;
80 percent were very satisfied with the timeliness of the shipment of
their order; and 83 percent said their order was filled accurately.
Information
collected from the survey will be used in ongoing efforts to measure customer
satisfaction, identify isolated incidents of dissatisfaction and track
changes over time to drive improvement in operational processes.
Staff participates
in the recent National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Technical
Conference on the Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the
World Trade Center Disaster. During the session on building and fire
codes, Vice President of Codes and Standards Mike Pfeiffer presented
the details of the code development process in anticipation of some of
the recommendations being submitted as code changes in the 2006/2007 Code
Development Cycle. Later, NIST identified the National Institute of Building
Sciences (NIBS) as the vehicle by which the recommendations would be submitted
to the ICC process. ICC and NIBS representatives met as a first step in
determining how the ICC Code Technology and Terrorism Resistant Building
committees could be utilized in the review of potential code changes prior
to the March 24, 2006, for submittals.
Two regional representatives
join Fire Service Activities team as contract employees. Bob Garrison
is a 34-year public safety veteran who served as a State Fire Marshal
and fire chief in Oregon. He is the primary contact for the fire service
in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Pat Coughlin is the former
executive director of the Residential Fire Safety Institute, executive
director of the Residential Life Safety Institute, and publisher of the
Code Reporter. He served as a fire chief in Richfield, Minnesota, and
Olathe, Kansas, and has more than 20 years of experience in fire administration
and code enforcement. He will work with the fire service in Kansas, Missouri,
New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
Communications and the Fire Services Activities Team develop Campus
Fire Safety campaign with assistance from the Center for Campus Fire Safety.
A news release offers students safety tips to reduce the risk of fire
and send readers to a public safety page on the ICC Web site.
The General Services Administration (GSA) has developed a new online
tutorial, "Firefighter
Forcible Entry Tutorial". The training educates firefighters and
facility tenants on how to exit via hurricane impact-resistant and security
windows during an emergency. Special windows are harder to break than
regular windows. The interactive site provides timed video examples of
firefighters venting and clearing windows of different resistance levels,
as well as appropriate tools used for the task.
| PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT SERVICES |
I-Code training
delivered to Jamaican engineers. ICC recently delivered a 10-day training
intensive on the 2003 IBC, IFC, IMC and IPC to 18 Jamaican engineers in
Miami. The training provided the knowledge, skills and abilities to participants
so they can educate their constituents on the codes.
State of Oregon requires ICC certification. Oregon now requires
ICC national certification for all new inspectors in the state. The states
of New York, North Carolina and Wisconsin also are reviewing options for
transition to ICC national certification. Internationally, Canada, Egypt
and Saudi Arabia have requested certification and testing proposals.
Staff has developed a new CALBO/ICC "legacy" certification program
based on the California Building Code. The program is expected to
begin by Jan. 1, 2006. Another chapter-sponsored "legacy" certification
program based on the Minnesota Plumbing Code is expected to begin next
February.
|
