August 25, 2003

PUBLIC COMMENT

TO: NIST NCST Advisory Committee

John Biechman, Vice President Government Affairs

National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)

FROM:

Mr. Chairman and Committee Members, thank you for the opportunity to

speak before this Advisory Committee today. My name is John Biechman,

and I am the Vice President of Government Affairs for NFPA.

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NFPA has worked with and supported NIST on both the World Trade Center

and Rhode Island nightclub investigations. NFPA looks forward to the

information and insight that will result from the investigations. Such

information will result in greater public safety.

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As you may know recent amendments were issued by the NFPA Standards

Council to NFPA's two key safety codes, NFPA 101, Life Safety Code:8), and

NFPA SOOOTM, Building Construction and Safety CodeTM.

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NFPA 101 -is used in every state and adopted statewide in 35 states -

addresses minimum building design, construction, operation, and

maintenance requirements necessary to protect building occupants from

danger caused by fire, smoke, and toxic fumes.

And, NFPA 5000 -which was recently chosen for adoption by the State of

California - contains provisions for every aspect of design and construction

of buildings and structures, as well as the creation of building systems for

health, safety, comfort, and convenience.

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Precipitated by the E2 nightclub crowd crush incident in Chicago and The

Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, RI - both of which occurred in

February and collectively resulted in 121 fatalities - the amendments

institute requirements that are believed at this time to be among the

nation's most stringent.

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The new requirements call for the installation of fire sprinklers in all new

nightclub-type facilities, and for the installation of fire sprinklers in all

existing nightclubs with occupancies exceeding 100.

0 Also issued were:

0 Restrictions to festival seating - also known as general admission

seating - when occupancies exceed 250 (unless a life-safety

evaluation is performed).

0 A requirement for crowd managers knowledgeable in public safety

for all places of assembly.

0 And, requirements for regular egress inspection and record-keeping

for existing nightclubs.

The genesis of these amendments is traced back to discussions that

originated at a public forum and special meeting of NFPA's Technical

Committee on Assembly Occupancies, held on March 13 in Boston.

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The public forum preceded the technical committee meeting. Speakers

included relatives of victims', fire marshals and fire chiefs from around the

country, and members of several national fire and life safety organizations.

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0 After studying all recommendations over the last several months, the

technical committee reached agreement on the above amendments and

recommended to the NFPA Standards Council on July 25 that the

amendments be issued to the 2003 editions of both codes.

The Standards Council reviewed these results and issued the amendments

on the 25th, making them effective 20 days following their decision.

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Clearly, these amendments demonstrate the NFPA codes and standards

development system once again being responsive to these kinds of terrible

tragedies.

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Thank you for the work that you are doing on these and other significant

incidents, and thank you, once again, for the opportunity to update you on

the work that NFPA and our technical committee members have undertaken

as a result of these tragic incidents.

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