The Comm 14 Fire Prevention Code advisory committee began meeting, on April 20, 2004 to advise the Department in updating Comm 14. This code, which was adopted in 2001 and became effective on July 1, 2002, replaced previous requirements for fire prevention at public buildings and places of employment with model-code requirements that are substantially in use elsewhere in this country. Those model-code requirements of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) were published in 2000, and were then substantially updated and republished in 2003.

The update of Comm 14 is expected to include:
(1) consideration of the 2003 edition of the NFPA requirements,
(2) changes needed to comply with recently enacted statutory requirements,
(3) consideration of whether to establish stop-use enforcement procedures for the fire-prevention programs regulated by the Division of Environmental and Regulatory Services, and
(4) refinements to address any problematic issues from the 2001 adoption.

The Committee members are representatives from the following organizations:

Five or more additional committee meetings are anticipated later this year, and adoption of the resulting code update is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2005.

-- Sam Rockweiler