Keeping up with technology & innovation in the built environment

International Code Council (ICC) Chief Executive Officer Dominic Sims, Board of Directors President M. Dwayne Garriss and Technical Services Senior Vice President Mike Pfeiffer participated in a panel on the code development process on July 31 during the National Association of State Fire Marshals 2017 Annual Conference in Charleston, S.C. The panel provided the Code Council and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) with an opportunity to discuss two important issues facing the associations, which also affect authorities having jurisdiction and state fire marshals across the United States — technology and innovation in the built environment and the length of code cycles.

Technology and innovation in the built environment is evolving at a rapid pace and occurs much faster than a three-year code cycle allows. Both ICC and NFPA have worked for many years on a three-year code/standard cycle, with much work happening during those three years to develop consensus. Code Council CEO Dominic Sims and NFPA President and CEO Jim Pauley addressed issues, including ICC and NFPA efforts to deal with the rapid pace of technology in the code and standards development process, and how code professionals can deal with the push to accept new technology that is not necessarily covered in the most current codes and standards.

Numerous states and other jurisdictions are undergoing pressure to extend the code cycle beyond the current three-year cycle. The Code Council and NFPA have been organizing and tracking opposition in various states and are leaders in a coalition supporting this joint effort. President Garriss moderated a discussion between ICC Technical Services Senior Vice President Mike Pfeiffer and NFPA Operations Vice President Don Bliss on the progress of the code cycle issue, what authorities having jurisdiction can expect, and what is being done to continue to encourage regular state and local adoptions.