TEXTILES.ORG
A reorganization by the International Code Council (ICC) of its groups that develop model codes will result in the next round of code revisions for the tent industry being moved up by one year.
The ICC uses a three-year cycle for developing model codes, and most codes that govern tents and temporary membrane structures fall under the International Fire Code (IFC). For the 2021 cycle, the IFC will be a part of the ICC’s Group A, whereas it was previously a part of Group B.
Code revision proposals for Group A must be submitted to the ICC through its cdpACCESS system by Jan. 8, 2018, for inclusion in the 2021 Model Code.
“Because this has moved up the scheduling by a year, the Tent Rental Division (TRD) Code Committee has started reviewing what code changes we would be looking at,” says Tom Markel, TRD Code Committee chair and owner of Bravo Events, Buffalo, N.Y. “We are again working with the IFC’s Special Events Work Group to see what code changes or tweaks are going to be moved forward in the work group. TRD is discussing both new code changes and looking at some of the code proposals we pulled from the last code cycle to see if we want to move them forward in this code cycle.”
Through the code development process, TRD will be represented in conference calls and face-to-face meetings with code officials as well as at the public hearings in 2018.
“TRD will reach out to members near some of these hearings and when we need help informing code officials how the industry works and how changes will impact the industry,” Markel says.
TRD had hoped to develop an ASTM standard for anchorage in time to be submitted as a code revision proposal for the 2021 Model Code, but the group reorganization will make that effort impossible. However, a TRD ASTM standard committee continues to work toward developing a standard and seeing it through the approval process for potential inclusion in the 2024 Model Code, Markel says.
The last round of code revisions for tents took place in 2016. Those will be published later this year as a part of the 2018 Model Code.