Newsletter 84 – February 2007
Summer Projects:
With the spring rapidly approaching school districts are submitting their projects for which they wish to begin construction this summer. The number of projects is also increasing due to the availability of EXCEL aid.
If you have a single trade project that has been, or will be, submitted to Facilities Planning for review please let your SED Project Manager know if it is single trade. We consider single trade projects as those that are built by a single contractor, i.e., a mechanical contractor, an electrical contractor, a roofing contractor, etc. Most of these projects are simple to review and we do not make them wait for larger projects ahead of them.
Additionally, if you have a project that is weather or seasonally sensitive please, let your SED Project Manager know of these too. We want to be sure that projects such as roofs or boilers are approved and constructed while the weather permits or before the heating season begins.
In any case, we can work with your architect and engineer to help you attain the approval so the work can begin without any delays.
Training Course for School Fire Safety Inspectors:
Has your Fire Safety Inspector taken this new course? Or is your Fire Safety Inspector scheduled to take this course? Be sure to check.
If you have not noticed, the Department of State (DOS) Division of Code Enforcement and Administration has extended their schedule for the “In-Service” training course for “Fire and Structural Safety Inspections for Public and Private Schools”. This course is designed to review the rules, regulations, reporting forms and inspection activities pertaining to the Annual School Fire Safety Inspection Program mandated by SED. Additional courses have been added for Central NY State, the Hudson Valley, and Long Island. The scheduled dates now extend through July 2007.
The current qualification for individuals to conduct Annual Fire Safety inspections is to complete the DOS Basic Training Program http://www.dos.state.ny.us/code/netsched1.html. We implore all qualified fire safety inspectors providing Annual Fire Safety Inspection services to public school districts to complete this course. At this time it is not a mandatory requirement for school fire safety inspectors to attend. It is SED’s desire to eventually make this course mandatory for all persons wishing to provide fire safety inspection services to public school districts.
To sign up for the course visit DOS Training at http://www.dos.state.ny.us/code/doscrse.htm. The course is one full day in length. This course is approved for 6-hours of DOS In-Service training credit for Certified Code Enforcement Officials and Continuing Education Credit for Architects and Engineers.
Fire Rated Glass:
Manufacturer’s standard specification for fire rated glass all contain a statement as follows. Most Architects have placed this standard phrase into their specifications without alteration.
“Each piece of glass is permanently labeled with the Manufacturer’s, Warnock Hersey, and/or, Underwriters Laboratories’ Logos on sizes up to 3325 sq. in. and with the Manufacturer’s Logo only for sizes that exceed the listing as approved by the local Authority Having Jurisdiction.”
This phrase indicates that the Authority Having Jurisdiction will approve larger size pieces of glass that exceed approved-tested sizes for fire ratings.
As the Authority Having Jurisdiction for all Public School Districts, the State Education Department will not be approving any fire rated glazing that is not approved by a nationally recognized testing agency. ALL fire rated glass must have the Warnock Hersey, and/or Underwriters Laboratories’ Logos on them. We are requesting that each firm remove the portion of the above statement that is underlined from your Master Specification. SED will not be responsible for approving fire rated glass that has not been tested and approved by a nationally recognized testing agency.
Further, this issue may have been overlooked in any previously approved projects. If there are installations that exceed the sizes allowed by nationally recognized testing agencies, each Architect or Engineer responsible for the project is responsible to make the corrective revisions necessary for the fire rated glass to comply with nationally recognized testing agency approval requirements.
Additionally, any architectural glass specifications that haven’t previously added the CPSC requirement for Category I and Category II sizes of glass needs to be updated with this also.
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.
Please continue to send in your comments and requests. If you have a subject you would like addressed, feedback on the material you read, input or general comments we are happy to hear from you.