Codes & Regulations

The International Code Council (ICC) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) continue to agree to disagree as each continues to develop its own fire code. Both groups have held a series of meetings and are yet to reach a decision. Now, the ICC says it is reviewing what the NFPA calls its “last and final” proposal to create one model fire code for the United States. But, the ICC argues that further negotiations need to follow the “last and final” proposal so that the groups may reach an agreement, despite the deadline the NFPA has set.

“The ICC Board has taken action to advise NFPA that ICC is eager to continue discussions on the cooperative development of model codes with NFPA,” said Dan Nickle, chairman of the ICC board of directors. “However, the terms of the NFPA’s last and final proposal require further discussions including resolution of plumbing and mechanical codes matter.”
In conjunction with this debate, the ICC’s board of directors considered the organization’s future at its November 11-12, 2000 meeting. In an effort to enhance its capabilities as a board, the group voted to eliminate the positions of president, vice-president and secretary/treasurer. Thus, the ICC’s executive vice president will become the general manager and chief executive officer of the council. With this change, the Board will be more directly involved in leading the organization as the code officials of the country unite under the umbrella of the ICC.

Likewise, the board agreed to begin the consolidation of all code development activities within the ICC organization, which is working to develop an organizational mechanism to assign responsibilities to various code councils. These code councils will then oversee code development committee activities such as committee appointments, arrangement and conduct of public hearings and other such activities.

The board also agreed to begin the establishment of a consolidated ICC national certification program. As the program begins, the ICC will take ownership of the joint model code organization examinations that are currently available and will begin issuing certificates for these exams. This will enable candidates to obtain multiple ICC certifications rather than repetitious certifications through each model code organization.

The International Code Council (ICC) has just published Code Requirements for Housing Accessibility (CRHA). The requirements listed in the document "constitute a safe harbor for compliance with the Fair Housing Act's (the Act's) accessibility requirements," according to the ICC.

The ICC says the CRHA can be adopted easily by any state or local jurisdiction, and can enable those jurisdictions to enforce provisions that are at least equivalent to the Act's requirements through routine code enforcement activities.

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Committee C-14 on Glass and Glass Products recently approved a new standard for bent glass, Document C 1464-00-Standard Specification for Bent Glass. The document specifies requirements for bent glass used in general building construction, furniture, display and various other non-automotive applications. More specifically, ASTM references bent annealed, bent chemically-strengthened bent fully-tempered, bent heat-strengthened and bent laminated glass, and notes allowable blemishes and tolerances for height, girth, shape accuracy, crossbend and twist in bent glass.

The National Fenestration Ratings Council (NFRC) has been working to inform manufacturers that all eligible products be rated and labeled for U-Factor, solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) and visible transmittance (VT) beginning January 1, 2001. In September the NFRC approved a new policy to remove products not certified for SHGC and VT from the tenth edition of its Certified Products Directory, with the exception of products for which the NFRC has not yet developed an SHGC and VT rating procedure.

According to the NFRC, the reason for the change is that SHGC and VT ratings are useful and necessary for understanding a fenestration product's performance. Therefore, the NFRC is attempting to ensure that labels on products provide the information needed for these codes.

Looking for the most current information on energy conservation codes? If so, then the Building Officials Code Administration's (BOCA) new CD, Energy Source 2000 may be of interest to you. The CD features the complete text of the 2000 and 1998 International Energy Conservation Codes as PDF files, in a printable and searchable format.

In addition to including energy conservation provisions for residential and commercial buildings, and building envelope requirements for thermal performance and air leakage, BOCA says the CD also contains MECcheck™ and COMcheck™ compliance materials, both of which were developed by the U.S. Department of Energy. The compliance materials include software, guides and other materials, which BOCA says are designed to work with the use of the International Energy Conservation Codes and CABO Model Energy Codes.

Energy Source 2000 is available to BOCA members for $38 and list price $51.