Tentative Interim Amendment sought for NFPA 75 2009 EditionThe NFPA Newsletter on Codes and Standards December 2011 contains a request for comments on a proposed Tentative Interim Amendment to NFPA 75 Standard for Protection of Information Technology Equipment Edition 2009. Pages 7 and 8 of the newsletter contains the complete text of the request for the TIA. Comments on the proposal may be submitted by the public through January 13, 2012. The TIA essentially requests that the following requirement in the 2009 edition of NFPA 75 be deleted: “The ventilation system shall be so arranged, with approved smoke detection devices, that upon the detection of fire or products of combustion in the underfloor space, the circulation of air will cease.” This requirement applies to IT facilities with raised floors. Modern IT equipment, particularly servers, can produce a great amount of heat. Cooling of IT equipment is a major challenge in IT facility design and operation. Requiring that the ventilation system which provides cooling air to the IT equipment be shut down upon detection of fire or products of combustion under a raised floor in a IT facility is tantamount to requiring the IT equipment to be shutdown upon activation of a single detector under a raised floor. Information technology equipment covered by NFPA 75 is used for a wide variety of important functions. The financial institutions of the world depend on IT equipment to record myriad monetary transactions such as credit and debit card transactions, stock transfers, monetary transfers both intra and interbank, tax payments, etc. Many of these financial transactions take place in “real time” and unplanned shut down of the IT equipment handling such transactions can have a devastating effect on the world’s economy. IT equipment also provides monitoring of life support systems in hospitals, tracking emergency center information, monitoring in real time of information vital to the national security – again in “real time” – and again unplanned shut down of such IT equipment can have serious consequences. The requirement in question was inserted into NFPA 75 as the result of application of the NFPA "extraction policy" during processing of the 2009 edition of NFPA 75. The requirement was not intended by the NFPA 75 technical committee. The addition of this requirement was brought to the attention of the NFPA 75 technical committee several months ago. Members of the technical committee developed the proposed TIA with advice from NFPA Standards Administration. NFPA Standards Council Releases Revised NFPA 2001The NFPA Standards Council authorized release of a revision to NFPA 2001. The new edition which will be referenced as the 2012 Edition becomes effective August 31, 2011. Some of the anticipated changes to the standard are summarized below. The summary is not official and should not be relied upon for purposes of system specification, design, review, commissioning or any other purposes related to clean agent systems. An official copy of NFPA 2001 Edition 2012 must be obtained and used for such purposes. NFPA Standards are available from the National Fire Protection Association, Batterymarch Park, MA. Expected Changes in Minimum Design Concentrations in NFPA 2001 for Clean AgentsThe motion to modify the NFPA 2001 ROC with respect to minimum design concentrations for Class A fires failed the floor vote at the June 15 TRS.
A motion to reverse the ROC language with respect to minimum design concentrations for Class C fires was successful and a follow up motion resulted in acceptance of ROC comment 2001 - 17 (log 10) - the results of the floor action were accepted by a 2/3 majority of the NFPA GFE Technical Committee, thus recommending the floor action to the Standards Council.
As a result of the aforementioned actions, it is anticipated that the Standards Council will release a revised NFPA 2001 having the following requirements for minimum design concentration for Class A and Class C fires:
The effect of this expected change would be to increase the Class A MDC for systems using halocarbons. The Class A MDC for systems using inert gases would be unchanged since all of the current Class A MDC for inert gases are greater than or equal to the MEC for n-heptane. Shown below are the MEC for n-heptane taken from Table A.5.4.2(b) of NFPA 2001 Standard Edition 2008 for some of the more common halocarbon agents:
Results of Motions Debate Posted on NFPA websiteResults of debate on NFPA 2001 motions at the June 15, 2011 NFPA Technical Report Session have been posted on the NFPA website. An analysis of what these results mean will be published here on the GSI website in the near future. Check back for details. Click here for complete information on the proceedings of the TRS (links to the NFPA website) Recognized by NFPAAugust 5, 2009 The National Fire Protection Standards Council recognized Guardian Services' Tom Wysocki for his "dedicated service and leadership as Chair of the Technical Committee on Electronic Computer Systems." Tom has served on the NFPA 75 Technical Committee for over two decades and recently completed his tenure as Chair of that Technical Committee. Wysocki will continue to serve as a Principal member of NFPA 75. Tom said, "The members of the NFPA 75 committee have truly been a pleasure to work with. They are dedicated to safety and bring common sense as well as vast experience. I am very pleased that the Standards Council has appointed Ralph Transue, former Chair of NFPA 76, to serve as the new 75 committee Chair. Ralph is a dedicated and very knowledgable leader - I look forward to continuing on the committee under Ralph's leadership." NFPA Special Achievement Award to Sam McTier and Tom Wysocki At the opening session of the NFPA Fall Meeting (Reno Nevada, November 17, 2003), Phillip DiNenno, chair of the NFPA Standards Council, presented Sam McTier and Tom Wysocki, two dedicated volunteers, with the Awards at the Opening Session. NFPAs Special Achievement Award recognizes the significant contribution of a committee member to a single project that has enhanced the NFPA codes-and standards-making process. In presenting GSI's Tom Wysocki this award, Phil DiNenno noted that Tom has been active in NFPA codes and standards developments since the 1970s. As chairman of the NFPA 12A Technical Committee on Halon 1301 system, he guided the standard as the world scientific community determined that the Freons, including Halons, were contributing to depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer. To protect the ozone from further depletion, the NFPA 12A standard was modified to minimize emissions of Halon 1301 and provide an orderly transition to non-ozone depleting extinguishing agents. Tom has presided over the NFPA 75 Technical Committee on protection of computers during an era when the nature of computer facilities underwent dramatic change. The NFPA 75 Standard has recognized and kept current with the changing nature of technology information systems. And Tom is a long tenured member of NFPA 12 Technical Committee on Carbon Dioxide systems. His expertise in the safe and effective use of these systems is well respected. Fire Protection Handbook The 19th Edition of the NFPA Fire Protection Handbook is now in print. Tom served as editor for the chapter covering Carbon Dioxide Fire Extinguishing Systems.
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