"Success thrives on Success". The FCIA San Antonio Meeting March 26-28, 2000 was grand success. Industry leading presentations, a tour of Omega Point Laboratories, an "all industry banquet" and the best attended golf outing to date made for an active FCIA group. See the website for a summary of the meeting.
New Members - The FCIA Welcomed 10 new members to the San Antonio Meeting. Much discussion about the Firestop Contracting Industry was had by all. FCIA welcomes the following new members to FCIA:
Manufacturers - 3 new Manufacturer members have joined FCIA since October.
- HILTI, Inc. - Tulsa, OK - Guy Bradley
- Rock Wool Manufacturing - Leeds, AL - Damien Cusik
- Tremco, Inc. Beachwood, OH - Steve Tyler
Contractors - 7 new Contractors have joined as members since October.
- AAA Firestopping - Scott, LA - Chad Landry
- Alpha Insulation - Henry Schmeuckle
- Custom Insulation - Maryland Heights, MO - Kevin McGinnis
- Fire Control Systems - Richland, NC - Glen Baker
- FireWise, Inc. - Pleasant Hill, MO - Dickie Herzog
- Martinez Associates - Montvale, NJ - Rich Jenkins, Sr., - Ken Jenkins
- Firestop Solutions - Frank Rudilosso
Associates - 3 new Associate Members joined FCIA.
- Tom Brown, Inc. - Philadelphia, PA - John Ferguson
- Building Professionals Consortium - Winnepeg, CA - Lavergne Dalgleish
- Association of Walls and Ceilings Industries - Washington, DC - Lee Jones
Call the new members and welcome them into FCIA. Their names, phone numbers and email addresses are on the website, www.FCIA.org.
FCIA Fall Meeting Announcement - The next FCIA Meeting is November 9-11, 2000. The location is the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel, Downtown Boston. The agenda will have programs focused on the "FM Approval Standard" and contractor testing, to be administered Friday of the meeting. The FCIA Committees have been working hard preparing material in time for our membership to study for the test.
Between early September early November, FCIA Members (& Non Members) will have the opportunity to undergo and FM Audit of their quality program and jobsite procedure before FM Designated Responsible Individual (DRI) testing in November to become "FM Approved Firestop Contractors". Those contractors who have been audited by November 1 and whose DRI has passed the FM Exam on November 10th will be "Approved" and receiving a listing in the 2001Factory Mutual "FM Directory". Audits can take place after the test as well. Later "FM Approved Contractors" will be listed on the FM Website when updated and appear in the FM Directory in the 2002 edition. The Directory is published yearly and distributed to building owners, architects, engineers and other interested parties.
Committees
Accreditation Committee - Blase Reardon, (A.F. Underhill, Inc.) Chair, reports that FM Global (Factory Mutual) has written the first draft of the FCIA Accreditation Program, now known as the "FM Approval Standard" for Firestop Contractors. Jeff Gould, Blase Reardon and Aedan Gleeson, FCIA President have met a number of times during the development of the standard. The document will be issued September 1, 2000. Review and comment on the "Standard" will take place by the Accreditation Committee in the next few days. Then, the document is sent to FM's internal and external "interested parties" as well.
Listed below are highlights of the "FM Approval Standard for Firestop Contractors":
- Each Contractor must name a "Designated Responsible Individual" (DRI) to steward the program at the firm.
- Testing of the DRI includes proficiency in all facets of Firestopping - Penetrations,Joints, Slab Edge.
- Control of Engineering Judgements - now known as Equivalent Fire Resistance Rated System (EFRSS).
- Quality Control - Record keeping is part of the FM Standard. Documenting your unique internal procedure is a vital part of the process.
- Continuing Education - DRI's will need to meet FM's CEU requirements.
- Re-examination - DRI's will be retested every 10 years.
If you want to become "FM Approved" by November, it's a good idea to start the process now by developing a "Quality Assurance Manual" that outlines your internal procedure. With your procedure documented, you'll only need to make minor adjustments when the standard is fully published in September.
Technical Committee - Kathy Taraba, (1 Source Firestop) Chair, and Tech Committee Members have been reviewing their portion of the "Firestop Manual of Practice". In San Antonio, the committee met and reviewed each section verbally, then agreed on changes to the manuscript. Each person has an assignment to edit their section based on the committees comments. "Wow, what teamwork! This group is incredible since each of these people is donating their time and paying for their own travel to write this book", states Kathy Taraba. They have an aggressive deadline of September 1, 2000 for publication of the Manual of Practice, which will be the basis for the written test portion of the FM Approval Standard.
Liaison Committee - Don Murphy and Breck Spain, Co-Chairs, have enlisted the help of many to cover the industry with FCIA Members at various conferences. Kathy Taraba, 1 Source Firestop and Don Sabrsula, FireSafe of Houston attended the "Alliance for Fire Safety and Smoke Control" charter meeting in Dallas in April. Don Murphy, PPMI Firestop, Kathy Taraba, 1 Source Firestop and Roger Rowe, Firestop Systems, LLC attended the International Building Code Hearings in Birmingham, AL this April. Each of these members has invested their own time and money to represent FCIA at these important industry conferences. Our voice is being heard in the industry!
More....
- FCIA in the industry - FCIA Associate Member, Karen Layng, Vedder Price, had a new article published by the National Insulation Association "Outlook" Magazine on liability arising out of firestop contracting, specifications and management. FCIA Executive Director, Bill McHugh spoke at the National Insulation Association Convention in Orlando, "Firestopping Roundtable", April 15. He also had an article published in the "OUTLOOK" Magazine. Check them out at www.FCIA.ORG.
- Kathy Taraba, 1 Source Firestop, Chris Downey, C.L. Downey, Inc., and other FCIA Members attended the NFPA Show in Denver the second week of May. They spent time forming relationships with fire officials from throughout the country. Many positive responses came from those who heard about the FM Approval Standard for firestop contractors.
- Jeff Gould, FM Global and Bill McHugh, Executive Director presented to the North Central Region Conference, CSI a program on "Contractor Quality" focusing on the Roofing and Firestop Standards. The purpose was to communicate the FM Approval Standard intent and listen for comments from this important industry group. The program, with key specification writers from around the country participating, was sponsored by the Northern Illinois Chapter, CSI. Bill McHugh was the conference volunteer chair.
- The FCIA was featured in a Association of Walls and Ceilings Industries (AWCI) "Academy Seminar about Firestopping. Their industry learned about the requirements needed to participate fully in the firestop industry through a full day seminar presented by Bill McHugh, FCIA Executive Director.
Communications Committee - Chair, Aedan Gleeson reports that the updates FCIA Members submitted in San Antonio have been entered by the FCIA Webmaster. Go to WWW.FCIA.ORG and look for your firms listing. Contact the FCIA Office should you need changes via email at info@fcia.org, or give us a call at 630-690-0682. Labor Committee - Ed Dougherty, Chair, reports that he's received a number of pieces of information about labor as it relates to union and non union environments. The Labor committee's objective is to gather information about labor issues important to the business of the professional firestop contractor. Contact Ed if you have information to add to the database.
Industry News
Northbrook, IL - UL has committed to "online service" for the UL Directories. Rich Walke, UL Engineering Manager reports that the www.ul.com website has the Fire Resistance Directory available for use by the industry. New testing will appear as soon as the manufacturer/sponsor wants instead of waiting for the yearly publication of the "orange directories". This new tool will not replace the publication of the directories according to Mr. Walke.
The Board of Directors of the FCIA thanks the membership, speakers and interested parties for their part in the successful San Antonio Meeting. Our goal to increase FCIA members understanding of the Accreditation and Technical Programs were met with much participation at the committee meetings and over 70 people in attendance at the general membership sessions. Our "development phase" of the FCIA is in full swing. The "implementation phase" of these programs starts in just a few months.
FCIA is well on the way to becoming a strong industry association. Thank you for your commitment to our industry and your association. We look forward to successful implementation of the various aggressive programs. Go to the "Boston Meeting" area on the FCIA Website and register now to reserve your space for the Boston FCIA Meeting, "The Future of Firestop Contracting, Today".
Firestop Contractors International Association
1257 Golf Circle
Wheaton, IL 60187
630.690.0682 PHONE
630.690.2871 FAX
e-mail: info@FCIA.ORG
©2000, FCIA.
Permission is hereby granted to forward, print, circulate, quote with credit to Firestop Contractors International Association.