Pallets and Fire Safety: NASFM Reports on the Meeting at UL Headquarters

“The purpose of the meeting was to discuss pallets and fire safety with the goal of providing accurate technical guidance to code officials in jurisdiction that adopted a model fire code and to verify that the installed automatic fire sprinkler system has been maintained as originally installed per the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 13: Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems,” wrote NASFM in its April 2009 newsletter.

“The meeting was extremely well attended by over 65 stakeholders representing various interests including pallet manufacturers, Underwriters Laboratories, Factory Mutual Approvals, loss control/risk managers, end users, and trade associations. Attending on behalf of NASFM were President Alan Shuman (GA), Vice President Dave Foreman (IL), Chief Project Manager Jim Narva, Code Consultant Bob Davidson (Davidson Code Concepts) and NASFM Counsel George Keeley.”

The update continued: “The meeting provided the opportunity to dispel a great deal of misinformation about what NASFM was and was not attempting to do. President Shuman emphasized that NASFM is not proposing to change any language in NFPA 13; NASFM is not proposing any ‘new certification requirements;’ and NASFM is not suggesting any reinterpretation of existing model codes and standards. NASFM is, however, seeking consensus on current code language and the intent of the language, as adopted by the model codes and standards organizations, to enable fire code officials to verify that the automatic sprinkler system has been designed and installed to protect the hazard that currently exists in the area protected.”