NFPA Journal - May/June 2019 - 48

In Compliance

published First Draft Report available
at nfpa.org/101next and is open for
public comment.
Public participation in the form of
public comment will help further refine
the proposed concept of balancing
drills in schools to accommodate the
growing need for training and response
to both fire and non-fire related emergencies. A similar change has also
been proposed for NFPA 1, Fire Code,
and is available for public comment
in the First Draft Report. Comments
can be submitted until June 27 at nfpa.
org/101next.
Kristin Bigda, P.E., is principal fire protection
engineer at NFPA. NFPA members and AHJs can
use the Technical Questions tab to post queries on
NFPA 101 at nfpa.org/101.

NFPA 72

Fire alarms, signaling, and
emergency communication

System documentation
and ensuring reliable fire
alarm system operation

have occurred as the technical committee received comments from the field
describing missing information that
designers and installers needed to
include to help ensure fire alarm
system reliability.
The technical committee did not
want to overburden all system installations with extensive documentation,
believing that the documentation for a
system installed in a convenience store
should not be as extensive as that for
a system installed in a 20-story high
rise. For this reason, only the minimum

The technical
committee did not want
to overburden all
installations with
a lot of documentation,
believing that the
documentation for
a system installed in a
convenience store should
not be as extensive as
that for a system installed
in a 20-story high rise.

By Wayne Moore
or most of the last

F

century, national signaling standards have
included requirements
to document the installation details of fire alarm systems. The
National Board of Fire Underwriters,
for example, included the following requirement in the 1920 edition
of NBFU 72, Section 1c: "Full information as required by the Insurance
Department having jurisdiction shall
be furnished to and plans approved by
it before the installation of devices and
equipment is begun."
More recently, documentation information has been included in NFPA 72®
since its inception as the National Fire
Alarm Code® in 1993, and currently
exists as a chapter in the National Fire
Alarm and Signaling Code®. Revisions

48 | NFPA JOURNAL * M A Y / J U N E 2 0 1 9

documentation requirements of 7.2.1
apply to all fire alarm systems installed
or modified. However, other chapters,
or as required by other laws, codes,
standards, and authorities having jurisdiction, may include more stringent
documentation requirements.
The 2019 edition of NFPA 72 contains
new documentation requirements that
apply to all new or modified fire alarm
systems. The first addition relates to
system design and designers. Paragraph
7.3.3.1 states that "when a design professional is preparing design documents
that will incorporate new or modifications to a fire alarm or emergency
communication system covered by this
Code, preliminary bid documents shall
be prepared in accordance with Section
7.3." Additionally, Paragraph 7.3.3.2
states that "the design professional shall

be qualified to prepare fire alarm design
documents in accordance with 10.5.1."
The next two new requirements relate
to fire alarm system design. Paragraph
7.3.3.3 requires that all design documents incorporate the appropriate
performance criteria to ensure that the
fire alarm system will provide a beneficial component to the fire and life safety
needs of the owner, occupants, and
authority having jurisdiction. Paragraph
7.3.3.4 requires that all design documents clearly communicate the intended
performance and functionality expected
by all installing contractors to ensure a
smooth system installation.
The annex to Subsection 7.3.3
provides new guidance for some of the
key issues a designer should include
in the documentation when locating detection devices and notification
appliances on preliminary drawings.
Their location should comply with the
standards, listings, and limitations of
the equipment specified. In addition,
the designer should include a note on
the drawings and specifications directing that the spacing should comply
with the device or appliance listing(s)
and NFPA 72.
Additionally, the same annex material suggests that "the architect/engineer
preparing bid documents should not
simply require a contractor to install a
fire alarm system in accordance with
codes, but rather outline the intended
minimum performance criteria to be
achieved in accordance with Section 7.3,
with guidance from A.7.3.3."
The last new requirement to
Chapter 7 in the 2019 edition of the
code is intended to ensure intelligibility of all emergency communications
systems (ECS) as outlined in Chapter
24. Paragraph 7.3.3.5 references the
requirements in Chapter 18 as it relates
to acoustically distinguishable spaces
and requires the design professional
to coordinate with other design disciplines to achieve the intelligibility
of messages utilizing the emergency
communications equipment as specified in the design documents and
available to the installer of the ECS.
http://www.nfpa.org/101next http://www.nfpa.org/101
NFPA Journal - May/June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - May/June 2019
