12.16.24 – SIW
What to do when an end-user sets their own fire alarm requirements
When thinking about the rules that apply to fire alarm systems, codes and standards like NFPA 72 and the International Fire Code often come to mind, since they are rules created by experts at model code organizations and frequently adopted by governmental entities, like cities and states.
Besides governmental action, there is one other way that rules can come into force: contracts.
Contracts give the customer authority and jurisdiction, making them an AHJ with regard to their own property and the contracted work. Similar to how a city delegates enforcement to a fire marshal, developers and building owners often delegate responsibility for enforcing the contractual fire alarm requirements to an engineer.
Plans and Specs
Fire alarm rules designated in a contract are primarily found in two places: the engineered drawings and the construction specifications, commonly referred to as “plans and specs.”
Drawings visually illustrate how the building should be built. They can also have requirements noted on them that may not be recorded elsewhere. Examples include integration requirements, specific locations, mounting details, and determinations of which party is responsible for providing things like duct detectors and stairwell pressurization controls.
Review fire protection, mechanical, electrical, lighting, architectural, reflected ceiling, special systems, and life safety plans to make sure you don’t miss important scope.
Specifications declare methods and materials to be used in construction. Examples include listing acceptable brands, prohibiting certain materials like PVC, outlining acceptance criteria, and mandating minimum technician certification levels.
The general contractor has a contractual requirement to adhere to plans and specs. This will largely extend to the first-tier subs, but the further you go down the construction tier, the more likely there is to be some level of variation.
Plans and specs might also incorporate critical requirements via reference. For example, if a building is insured by FM Global, the owner will likely need to follow certain FM standards, of which there are more than 200 that could apply. In cases like this, the insurance company becomes another AHJ.
Contractual requirements aren’t strictly the domain of construction projects. Insurance companies may also dictate maintenance requirements that get passed along to the fire alarm service provider via contract.
Contractual requirements aren’t strictly the domain of construction projects. Insurance companies may also dictate maintenance requirements that get passed along to the fire alarm service provider via contract. Similarly, it’s common for large hotel brands to mandate fire alarm rules that each franchisee must follow. Even if the insurance company or franchisor’s rules don’t explicitly make it into the contract, expect to be held accountable for following them.
Integrator Obligations
The mere existence of fire alarm rules in the plans and specs does not obligate one to follow them. That obligation only arises if one is under a contract that requires them to follow the plans and specs.
This is an important distinction. It regularly happens that plans and specs come to incorporate a design that doesn’t make sense or that exceeds the minimum code requirements. While a good argument can be made for adhering to the latter, customers frequently agree to relax the design criteria if it results in a lower price while still complying with the code.
Watch out for a trap here. I’ve repeatedly seen salespeople bid on a scope that meets code, but doesn’t meet the full plans and specs. When jobs are awarded, it is normal for the AIA boilerplate contract language to incorporate the plans and specs.
If nobody notices that the contract is for the bid price, yet still requires compliance with the full plans and specs, you can end up with an expensive scope gap – even more so if it doesn’t get caught until the end of the job. Anytime you get a contract, review the scope carefully to ensure it matches what you bid and nothing more.
I’ve now covered all six categories of rules: product rules (December 2023), requirements for what to install (February 2024), requirements for how to install it (May 2024), requirements for individuals (June 2024), business requirements (August 2024), and here, contractual requirements (December 2024).
Next month, I will walk through an example illustrating how to determine which rules apply. I will dig into those rules to see what requirements they contain. I invite you to suggest cities and building types for use in my example. Submit your suggestions at https://fieldsim.ontralink.com/tl/2.
Insight Into History
Today’s model code organizations can trace their roots to the Industrial Revolution that began in the mid-1700s. With industrialization came increasing losses due to fire, so to spread the risk, insurance companies arose where factory owners contributed to mutually insuring each other. This was further catalyzed by the Great Fire of New York in 1835, which led to the founding of Factory Mutual (now FM Global) and many other fire insurance companies. Those insurance companies quickly realized the need for minimum standards – otherwise, premiums would be unaffordably high to cover losses where destruction by fire could have been avoided; and standardized rules for electrical and fire protection were born.
This article originally appeared in the December 2024 issue of Security Business magazine. Don’t forget to mention Security Business magazine on LinkedIn and @SecBusinessMag on Twitter if you share it.
About the Author
Ben Adams
With a career spanning nearly every role in the life safety industry and a NICET Level IV certification, Ben Adams is a sought-after author and speaker. In 2021, he launched FireAlarm.Training (https://FireAlarm.Training) to accelerate training for companies, shrinking time-to-value for new techs from months to just days. Most of his columns are excerpted from Fire Alarm 101 training content, which can be found at the link above.