**Looking up your state code (in relation to Fire Door Inspections): **
To find out what codes your state has adopted, visit: http://www.iccsafe.org/GR/Pages/adoptions.aspx
Click on your state. Read the codes your state has adopted. You can scroll down to your county and read which codes your county has adopted.
Question:
What if the code your state or county has adopted references another code or standard?
Let’s take Colorado, for example.
Using the link above, we find all of the codes the state of Colorado and Boulder county in particular have adopted. They are:
Colorado Statewide:
All State Buildings & Facilities: IBC, IMC, IPC, IFGC, IECC. All Public Schools & Junior Colleges: IBC, IFC, IMC, IPC, IFGC
* 2006 International Building Code
* 2006 International Energy Conservation Code
* 2006 International Fire Code
* 2006 International Fuel Gas Code
* 2006 International Mechanical Code
* 2006 International Plumbing Code
* 2006 International Residential Code
* 2006 International Existing Building Code
Boulder County
* 2006 International Building Code
* 2006 International Energy Conservation Code
* 2006 International Fuel Gas Code
* 2006 International Mechanical Code
* 2006 International Plumbing Code
* 2006 International Residential Code
* 2006 International Urban-Wildland Interface Code
We see that Colorado and Boulder County has adopted the IBC 2006. Let’s see what the IBC 2006 says about referenced code.
Go to the International Building Code (IBC) 2006
It states:*Section 101.4 Reference Codes. The other codes listed in Sections 101.4.1 through 101.4.7 and referenced elsewhere in this code shall be considered part of the requirements of this code to the prescribed extent of each such reference. *
The sections 101.4.1 through 101.4.7 reference ICC Electrical Code, International Fuel Gas Code, International Mechanical Code, International Plumbing Code, International Property Maintenance Code, International Fire Code, and International Energy Conservation Code.
Chapter 35 of the IBC is titled Referenced Standards and lists the standards that are referenced in various sections of the IBC. These standards are an extension of the IBC code and become law to the extent to which they are referenced. A standard is a published technical document that represents an industry consensus on how a material or assembly is to be designed, manufactured, tested, or installed in order for a specific level of performance to be obtained. Although the code establishes the minimum quality and performance criteria for a material, installation or method of design, the code relies on the reference standards to provide the criteria to determine whether a material or method is in compliance with the code provisions.
Among the referenced standards are NFPA 80 Fire Doors and Fire Windows and NFPA 101 Life Safety Code.
Most important point:
Referenced standards in the IBC are considered part of the code, which allows them to be as enforceable as the code itself.
What is important about NFPA 80?
NFPA 80 now establishes a mandatory 1-year inspection of all fire rated doors.
The previous NFPA 80 code has always stated that the building owner had to maintain fire rated openings in a manner for which they were intended. Fire officials have always tried to enforce this, but now the NFPA (National Fire Prevention Association) has given the officials some power to enforce this, by creating a Mandatory Annual Inspection Program of all fire rated openings in a building by a certified party… say… an InterNACHI Certified Fire Door Inspector perhaps.