Code Council submits ICC standards projects for ANS consideration

The International Code Council, a member of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and an accredited standards developer, recently submitted ANSI Project Initiation Notification System (PINS) statements — developed in conjunction with the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety — for new standards ICC 605: Standard for Residential Construction in Regions with Wildfire Hazard, ICC 610: Standard for Residential Construction in Regions with Seismic Hazard, and ICC 615: Standard for Residential Construction in Regions with Tsunami Hazard. The PINS is required for proposed new and revised American National Standards (ANS).

In order to accomplish the Code Council’s mission of providing a coordinated and comprehensive set of model codes as well as regulatory documents supporting the built environment, it is necessary to assure the availability of acceptable standards. Council Policy (CP) 12 — ICC Standards Development gives general criteria regarding the development and maintenance of standards by the Code Council. The policy is intended to work in concert with the ANSI-approved ICC Consensus Procedures, which regulate the development and update of ICC standards. Section 2.5 of CP-12 states “[t]he submittal of the ANSI Project Initiation Notification (PINS) requires approval of the Executive Committee of the ICC Board of Directors.”

ICC 605: Standard for Residential Construction in Regions with Wildfire Hazard

Development of a comprehensive standard to specify enhanced prescriptive methodologies of wildfire resistant design and construction details for buildings and other structures of wood-framed, steel-framed, concrete, or masonry construction sited in wildfire hazardous areas. This standard provides prescriptive details for walls, floors, roofs, foundations, windows, doors and other applicable components of construction.

ICC 610: Standard for Residential Construction in Regions with Seismic Hazard

Development of a comprehensive standard to specify enhanced prescriptive methodologies of seismic resistant design and construction details for buildings and other structures of wood-framed, steel-framed, concrete, or masonry construction sited in seismic hazardous areas. This standard provides a methodology to identify and retrofit specific known vulnerabilities in wood light-frame dwellings. Use of the provisions is anticipated to improve earthquake performance but is not intended to prevent earthquake damage.

ICC 615: Standard for Residential Construction in Regions with Tsunami Hazard

Development of a comprehensive standard to specify enhanced prescriptive methodologies of tsunami resistant design and construction details for buildings and other structures of wood-framed, steel-framed, concrete or masonry construction sited in coastal regions susceptible to tsunamis. A tsunami, or tidal wave, is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions above or below water all have the potential to generate a tsunami. This standard provides prescriptive details for walls, floors, roofs, foundations, windows, doors and other applicable components of construction.

Previously, the Code Council submitted ANSI PINS for revised standard ICC 600: Standard for Residential Construction in High-Wind Regions, which will now become part of the ICC 600 series of hazard mitigation standards.

ICC 600: Standard for Residential Construction in High-Wind Regions

As part of periodic maintenance, ICC 600 will undergo an update to be consistent with current industry practices. The objective of this standard is to specify prescriptive methodologies of wind-resistant design and construction details for building and other structures of wood-framed, steel-framed, concrete or masonry construction sited in high-wind areas. This standard provides prescriptive details for walls, floors, roofs, foundations, windows, doors and other applicable components of construction.

In February 2019, the Code Council submitted ANSI PINS for new standards ICC 1200: Standard for Off-Site Construction: Planning, Design, Fabrication and Assembly and ICC 1205: Standard for Off-Site Construction: Inspection and Regulatory Compliance — developed in conjunction with the Modular Building Institute — and revised standard ICC 900: Standard for Solar Water Heating Systems.

ICC 1200: Standard for Off-Site Construction: Planning, Design, Fabrication and Assembly

Development of a comprehensive standard to address all facets of the off-site construction process, including planning, designing, fabricating, transporting, and assembling commercial and residential building elements. This includes componentized, panelized and modularized elements. This standard will not apply to HUD manufactured housing or “tiny homes.” As part of the off-site construction portfolio, a separate standard entitled “ICC 1205: Standard for Off-Site Construction: Inspection and Regulatory Compliance” is being developed.

ICC 1205: Standard for Off-Site Construction: Inspection and Regulatory Compliance

Development of a comprehensive standard to address the inspection, approval and regulatory compliance of off-site residential and commercial construction components and their assembly and completion at the final building site. This includes permitting, in-plant and on-site final inspections, third party inspections, the role of industrialized building departments, state modular programs and the authority having jurisdiction. Off-site construction includes componentized, panelized and modularized elements. This standard will not apply to HUD manufactured housing or “tiny homes.” As part of the off-site construction portfolio, a separate standard entitled “ICC 1200: Standard for Off-Site Construction: Planning, Design, Fabrication and Assembly” is being developed.

ICC 900: Standard for Solar Water Heating Systems

As part of periodic maintenance, ICC 900 will undergo an update to be consistent with current industry practices. The objective of this standard is to establish minimum requirements for the system design, performance evaluation and installation instructions of solar water heating systems. This standard establishes a methodology for rating the performance of solar water heating systems based on performance projections and solar collector test data. This standard is applicable to residential and commercial solar water heating systems intended for use within swimming pool heating, building space heating, building space cooling and/or water heating systems. It is applicable to both direct and indirect solar water heating systems.

Used to notify ANSI of the initiation of a standards project, the PINS is reviewed by all working group members and then by the responsible subcommittee. ANSI-accredited standards developers — such as the Code Council — only are eligible to submit candidate standards for consideration as American National Standards.

Since it was founded in 1918, ANSI has coordinated the development of voluntary consensus standards in the United States and has represented the needs and views of U.S. stakeholders in standardization forums around the globe. The U.S. member body to ISO and a member of the International Accreditation Forum, ANSI does not write standards; it accredits standards developers that will establish consensus among qualified groups. Its guiding principles “consensus, due process and openness” are followed by the 220 distinct entities currently accredited to develop and maintain nearly 10,000 American National Standards.