NFPA Journal - Summer 2023 - 66

20
23
C&E
PREVIEW
fire protection and life safety systems to ensure
that they are assessed under normal circumstances
and during emergencies. By including these features
in the approved emergency action plan,
building owners and AHJs will be able to evaluate
the impact of security and life safety features on
each other. It is noted that the new language in
NFPA 101 does not require an evaluation of the
effectiveness of security features, which is outside
the scope of the Life Safety Code.
Refinements to exit requirements in the new
edition of the code recognize the reliability and
effectiveness of automatic sprinkler systems and
allow for greater design flexibility where sprinklers
are provided. In one example, horizontal exit fire
barriers were previously required to be vertically
continuous to the ground unless a two-hour separation
was provided between stories with horizontal
exit barriers and those on which they were omitted,
and all other exits (e.g., stairs) discharged
directly outside. Interior exit discharge will now
CONFERENCE SESSIONS
Changes to NFPA Health Care
Codes and Standards
Date
Monday, June 19
9:15-10:15 a.m.
Speakers
James Peterkin
TLC Engineering
Chad Beebe
American Society for Health Care
Engineering, American Hospital
Association
ITM Requirements in Health
Care Occupancies: How to
Stay Compliant
Date
Tuesday, June 20, 4:30-6 p.m.
Speakers
Jon Hart
NFPA
Sean Burris
Healthcare Hiller Fire
Joshua Brackett
Banner Health
NFPA 101 2024:
Adopting the Newest Edition
Date
Wednesday, June 21, 2-3 p.m.
66 | NFPA JOURNAL * SUMMER 2023
Speakers
William Koffel
Koffel Associates, Inc.
Health Care and Life Safety
Changes: Major Proposed
Revisions for NFPA 99 and
NFPA 101
Date
Wednesday, June 21, 10:30-noon
Speakers
Michael Crowley
Coffman Engineers
Gregory Harrington
Building Fire Protection
and Life Safety, NFPA
NFPA 101 in Health
Care Facilities: Managing
Noncompliance and
Construction
Date
Wednesday, June 21,
3:15-4:45 p.m.
Speakers
Paul Dzurinda and Colin McKay
Jensen Hughes
Mike Barrett
The MetroHealth System
Donna Gerengher
Facilities Management
be permitted if the building is sprinklered and the
additional interior exit discharge requirements of
Section 7.7 are met. A second example recognizing
the effectiveness of sprinklers is a change to the
interior exit discharge requirements of Section
7.7. Previously, up to 50 percent of a building's exit
stairs were permitted to discharge through interior
building areas where the interior discharge area
was protected by automatic sprinklers or where the
interior discharge was through a relatively small,
protected vestibule. In the 2024 edition, up to 75
percent of a building's exits will be permitted to
discharge through small, protected vestibules where
the interior discharge level is sprinklered.
In another example of the code's response to realworld
practices, the next edition of NFPA 101 will
recognize and mandate the requisite life safety from
fire protection for valet trash collection services in
apartment buildings. Valet trash collection is a service
where apartment residents place their trash
and recycling in containers in the corridor or on
the egress balcony outside their units for removal
by attendants at designated times. The Life Safety
Code previously contained no information relating
to valet trash services, which have proliferated in
recent years. (A Google search of the term " valet
trash " yields more than four million results.) With
no code requirements, AHJs have been left to determine
the needed protection on their own or whether
the operation of such services should even be permitted,
since the placement of trash in corridors
and on egress balconies obviously increases the fire
and life safety risk to residents and firefighters. The
outright prohibition of valet trash collection services
was deemed to be impractical, so reasonable
requirements were developed to mitigate the hazard.
Requirements in NFPA 101 will include limited-size
containers that are covered and liquidtight,
and that are noncombustible or that have a limited
peak heat release rate, unless the corridor is sprinklered
or the building is sprinklered where egress
balconies are not noncombustible or limited combustible;
maintaining the minimum required egress
width; and limiting the duration that containers
can be located in a corridor to 18 hours at a time
and the time that combustible waste can be located
in a corridor to 5 hours at a time. The recognition
and regulation of valet trash collection services will
allow the ongoing operation of a convenient service
for apartment residents that otherwise might create
a substantial fire hazard.
The Life Safety Code we know today got its start in
the early part of the twentieth century as the Building
Exits Code, and as its title implied, it primarily
regulated exits from buildings in response to historic
fires such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New
York (146 deaths) and the Cocoanut Grove nightclub
in Boston (492 deaths). Its scope has expanded over
the years to provide a complete package of protection
from the effects of fire and similar emergencies.
NFPA Journal - Summer 2023

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