February 20, 2008
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Hearings This Week to Decide on ICC Adoption of ANSI-7 Standard
APSP will present its case for adoption of the ANSI-7 standard for suction entrapment avoidance at the International Code Council (ICC) code hearings this week. The ICC Code Development Hearings are being held February 18-March 1 in Palm Springs, CA, and APSP’s delegation of members expects to address the ICC committees on February 20. APSP believes it has an excellent chance of success at this year’s ICC hearings.
Once approved, the ANSI-7 standard would be incorporated into section 3109.5 of ICC’s 2009 International Building code (IBC) and appendix G section 106.1 of the 2009 International Residential Code (IRC). A delegation of APSP members with the assistance of APSP code consultant Lorraine Ross will present the proposal (identified as RB-227-07/08) for adoption of ANSI-7.
APSP believes that the ANSI-7 standard is ready for ICC adoption and is fully consistent with the new federal Pool and Spa Safety Act. APSP feels it has an excellent chance of success at this week’s hearings. The ANSI-7 standard was reviewed by ICC staff and has been found to meet the rigorous criteria for standards to be adopted into the I-codes. The imprint of the ANSI designation carries weight within the standards community and will be a positive factor in ICC consideration. The ICC hearings also come on the heels of the federal Pool and Spa Safety Act and adoption of the ANSI-7 standard by the state of Florida.
The schedule for all hearing proposals and presentations is somewhat tentative because each ICC code hearing throughout the week begins immediately upon completion of the hearings for the prior committee. However, APSP expects to be heard on February 20. The APSP delegation will make a presentation during the hearing for the International Residential Code and also during the hearing for the International Building Code-General. The ICC will conduct two votes: One vote will be for adoption of ANSI-7 under the International Residential Code and one vote will be for adoption of ANSI-7 under the International Building code-General. Each ICC Committee’s vote will be taken and announced immediately after each proposal.
Background on ICC Code Cycle
The 2007/2008 ICC Code Development Schedule began in the summer of 2007, when applications for code committees and code change proposals were due.
ICC code committees are an important part of the ICC Code Development Process. ICC currently has 14 Code Committees, which are responsible for the review and evaluation of code change proposals submitted to the 14 International Codes. In addition to the International Residential Code and the International Building Code, ICC also publishes international codes for the following areas: electrical, energy conservation, existing buildings, fire, mechanical, plumbing, and property maintenance/zoning. The Code Committees for the 2007/2008 Code Development Cycle will hear the code change proposals and vote on proposals at the Palm Springs hearings. The “Report of the Public Hearing” is published in April, and public comments are due in June. Based on the public comments, an “action agenda” is published in August, which will then be taken up at a final hearing September 17-23 in Minneapolis. All approved code changes from the 2007/2008 code cycle will be published in ICC’s 2009 code editions.
The ICC was founded in 1994 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing a single set of comprehensive and coordinated national model construction codes. The founders of the ICC are Building Officials and Code Administrators International, Inc. ® (BOCA®), International Conference of Building Officials® (ICBO®), and Southern Building Code Congress International, Inc. ® (SBCCI®). Since the early part of the last century, these nonprofit organizations have developed the three sets of model codes used throughout the United States. Most U.S. cities, counties, and states that adopt codes choose the International Codes developed by the International Code Council.
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