Office of Facilities Planning
Newsletter #36 – February 2003

We would like you to meet Melissa Peters. Melissa was a new addition to our office at the start of this year and says she is happy to be working in Facilities Planning. She will be turning 21 years old next month and starting at Hudson Valley Community College this fall to get her administrative technical degree. When she is not working, Melissa enjoys hanging out with friends, going to the movies, going shopping and snowmobiling.

School District buildings are required to have fire inspections both annually and to receive their initial certificate of occupancy after construction. The certificate of occupancy is reissued each year after the annual fire inspection. For more information about fire inspections, you can find the SED Manual for Public School Facilities Fire Prevention and Fire Inspections on our web site at https://www.p12.nysed.gov/facplan/publicat/FireSafetyInspectionManual.pdf.

An item of interest that has been brought to our attention regarding the fire inspections is that local fire officials are not being directly notified of the annual inspection. The requirements for planning the annual inspections in pages 5 and 7 in the manual above states when fire inspections are performed by other than a representative of the local fire department the Education Law requires that school officials notify the local fire chief prior to the inspection. The notification must include the time, date and location of the annual fire inspection. Local fire officials may accompany anyone retained by the board of education during the annual inspection.

Education law, S 807-a, Fire Inspections, http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?cl=30&a=41, provides detail for fire chief notification and who may represent the fire department. This does not provide for the local village, town or county building inspector to be involved in place of the fire official. Please be knowledgeable of these requirements and provide the proper notification to local fire departments for their participation in annual fire inspections. The fire chief notification should be done in a written message to the fire chief. Public notices in newspapers do not suffice.

Using the International Building Code:

We are only scratching the surface as we begin our review of projects that are utilizing the new code. Already we are finding that most of the Code Compliance Checklists are NOT being completed as required by the new code. Please review Newsletter #30 in which we introduced the new Code Compliance Checklist. https://www.p12.nysed.gov/facplan/Newsletter/Newsletter_30.html

The information we are requiring on most of the Code Compliance Checklist pages can be traced back to specific code requirements that require it to be provided. Please print one out and follow along with these hints.

Page 1, General Information: Fill in every line, use "NA" boxes only if appropriate.

• Provide the specification sections and the page of all the items paperclipped.
• If any 155.7 items are noted as not compliant on the Evaluation of the Existing Building form, they must be corrected or a building permit cannot be issued.

Very important for pages 2 through the end, the information provided is for work within the project. Not the whole existing building.

Page 2, Required Information: Fill in every line, use "NA" boxes only if appropriate.

• Building information, you must know the categories for existing buildings. Look them up in Appendix K of the code or you may be providing incorrect information. The existing building information is very specific. If more than one apply, indicate the different areas on the drawings.
• Code compliance for assembly areas, you must provide MPS required exit information too.

Page 3, Architectural Design: Fill in every line, but be careful when checking the "not applicable" box. You must read the code requirements and be sure whether the item is applicable or not.

• Fill in the location box for every item that is marked "yes". Provide the location by listing the drawing number or specification section with the page.

• The items that appear in the yellow areas (gray in B&W) are items required to be compliant in the existing building by Commissioner’s Regulations.

Page 4, Structural Design: This information is required to be provided by the new building code.

• Emergency Shelter design is more restrictive.
• If you have questions, read the associated code sections provided on the form.

Page 5, Energy Conservation: This information is required to be provided by the new energy code.

• If you have questions, read the associated code sections provided on the form.
• Applicability, you must read the code section. The category you choose will tell you what must comply.
• Design approach, use the DOE software, COMcheck-EZ. We can’t make it easier than this.

http://www.energycodes.gov/register.cfm?software=COMcheck-EZ&type=NewYork

Page 6, Mechanical Design: Fill in every line, but be careful when checking the "not applicable" box. You must read the code requirements and be sure whether the item is applicable or not.

• Fill in the location box for every item that is marked "yes". Provide the location by listing the drawing number or specification section with the page.

Page 10, Fire Code Requirements: We are attempting to complete this page as soon as possible. The Fire Code of New York State has requirements for new and existing buildings. Until we complete this page, please refer to Newsletter #31, which noted most of the requirements.

https://www.p12.nysed.gov/facplan/Newsletter/Newsletter_31.html.

An Index of our Newsletters is available on our web site at https://www.p12.nysed.gov/facplan/NewsLetters.htm.

If you would like to have this Newsletter sent directly to you by e-mail, please send your e-mail address to Joe Levy at jlevy@mail.nysed.gov