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Journal of the Ontario Building Officials Association, December, pp. 17-18, 2005-12-01
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Initial code development priorities for the National Construction Codes approved
Thériault, M.
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I nit ia l c ode deve lopm e nt
priorit ie s for t he N at iona l
Const ruc t ion Code s a pprove d
R e p o r t N R C C - 4 8 3 6 3
A u t h o r ( s ) T h é r i a u l t , M .
A version of this document is published in / Une version de ce document se trouve dans:
Initial Code Development Priorities for the National Construction Codes Approved
By Martin Thériault
Submitted to the Journal of the Ontario Building Officials Association.
Now that the objective-based 2005 National Construction Codes have been published, preparations for the next national code cycle have already begun.
At its meeting in June 2005, the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes (CCBFC), the body responsible for the development of the National Construction Codes, adopted the initial priorities for the technical development of the codes during the next cycle. The decision on priorities was made in consultation with the Provincial Territorial Policy Advisory Committee on Codes (PTPACC), the body representing the provincial and territorial jurisdictions and responsible for providing policy advice to the CCBFC.
These priorities were approved following recommendations developed by a Joint CCBFC/PTPACC task group. The task group reviewed all the outstanding work left from the previous code cycle and established criteria for determining priorities. These criteria included the level of effort required to complete the work compared to the capacity of the coordinated code development system, as well as the consensus of the provincial/territorial jurisdictions that work was needed.
The task group also compiled a list of emerging issues having broad impact on the scope of the national codes. These are issues that require extensive discussion to determine whether the national codes should address them, and if so, the scope of the potential changes. The PTPACC examined these “policy”-related issues and identified five where there was consensus that work should be done. Although the scope of the work is not fully determined, these initial policy priorities have been defined as follows:
• Rooming, Boarding and Other Shared Accommodation for the NBC and NFC: There are no specific provisions in the national codes for rooming and boarding houses, group homes, student residences, bed and breakfast establishments, housing for migrant/seasonal workers, temporary work camps, children’s camps, etc. A review will be undertaken to determine how the codes might address these situations.
• Care and Residential Care Occupancies: Regulating residential care facilities has always been complex. As well, emerging approaches to meeting care needs in Canada are creating situations where the application of the codes is unclear. Work will be undertaken to coordinate the development of the national codes and the regulatory needs of the provinces and territories in this area.
• Renovation of Existing Buildings: More than 50% of building construction activity is renovation. The need and practicality of separate requirements in the national codes for renovation of existing buildings will be investigated.
• Retrofit / Rectifying Unsafe Conditions (fire-related) in Existing Buildings: The National Fire Code does have provisions in Part 2 that can be used to rectify an
unsafe fire situation in an existing building, but they are not easy to apply. The objective of this work is to provide fire officials with more effective tools to address unsafe conditions.
• Harmonization of Technical Differences between Provincial and National Codes: One of the goals of the new integrated code development system is to reduce the need for provinces and territories to amend the national codes for use within their jurisdiction. Work will be undertaken to identify and resolve existing differences between the national codes and provincial and territorial codes.
In addition to the above policy issues, thirty-seven priority technical issues have also been identified for the next code cycle, with possibly more being added. Some of these technical priorities are:
• Smoke Alarm Battery Backup: The NBC requires that smoke alarms be “hard wired” to the electrical service in residential construction. When a building suffers a power outage, the smoke alarms do not operate; in some cases fire fatalities have been reported and the absence of smoke alarm battery backup was identified as a contributing factor.
• Spatial Separation Between Buildings of Combustible Construction: In light of recent conflagration fires a study of construction materials in exposing building faces will be carried out; this may result in new limitations on construction and spatial separation of exposing building faces.
• Photoluminescent Marking and Exit Signs: Photoluminescent signs for exits and wayfinding are not addressed in the current national codes. However, this new technology could offer a viable alternative solution to those currently required. • Party Walls: The National Building Code currently requires that any wall built on
a property line be constructed as a party wall. However, since this issue now falls outside the scope of code objectives, the possible elimination of these
requirements will be studied.
• Fire Safety at Construction and Demolition Sites: During the past few years there have been at least two urban construction site fires that have spread beyond the building of fire origin and posed a serious threat of conflagration in adjoining densely populated areas. The adequacy of the fire safety provisions in the 2005 NFC will be reviewed.
• Secondary Suites: Secondary suites are smaller suites, generally located in two-unit residential buildings and often retrofitted into existing single-family dwellings. A number of provincial codes and municipal jurisdictions have requirements that apply to these suites but there is little consistency between jurisdictions. Work will be undertaken to reconcile differences between the provincial codes and the NBC.
• Fire Alarm Voice Communication System: In the last code cycle, considerable effort went into the preparation of proposed code changes addressing the
protection of people in "bulk merchandising stores." A task group completed its work and proposed changes to both the NFC and the NBC. The changes
proposed to the NBC were withdrawn so that they can be properly addressed in the context of other requirements for fire alarm systems in the next code cycle.
Most of the technical work for the national codes is undertaken by standing committees and task groups. The CCBFC will be renewing the membership of these committees soon. Persons interested in applying to become a member should submit an expression of interest, including a curriculum vitae, to the Secretary of the CCBFC. Travel and living expenses for committee members are reimbursed. For more information see
http://www.nationalcodes.ca/apply_contact_e.shtml
For more information on the initial priorities for the development of the national construction codes, please contact:
John Archer
Secretary, Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes Canadian Codes Centre, Building M-23A
National Research Council Canada
1200 Montreal Road, Ottawa, Ontario KlA 0R6 Fax: (613) 952-4040
E-mail : codes@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
_______________________________
Martin Thériault is the communications officer with the Canadian Codes Centre of the NRC Institute for Research in Construction.
