MEHES December Meeting

33 Fuller Road,Augusta ME 04330

02 December, 2022

Description

Under the Maine Uniform Building Code and the Rules of the State Fire Marshal, certain buildings are required to have third party firestopping inspections performed on newly installed firestop assemblies. The inspection process prescribed involves destructively inspecting or witnessing the installation of a percentage of the firestop assemblies. The inspectors are required to compare the installed firestopping to listed firestop assemblies that the contractor has submitted on the project. This level of inspection and review is substantially different than any enforcement for firestopping in the past. The result is many projects experiencing high failure rates and causing expensive rework and schedule delays. This presentation will provide an overview of the firestopping requirements contained in the building code, what an approved firestopping assembly actually is, and the process for special inspection outlined in the ASTM standards referenced by the applicable codes. The presentation will provide details of who can serve as a special inspector, required credentials of a special inspector, conflicts of interest to be aware of, and the documentation required to be provided to the building and fire officials. Discussion will also include the best practices for owner to manage this process proactively so their projects that are subject to this requirement aren’t negatively impacted. Just in case you need to submit for different CEU’s, the learning objectives we identified are as follows: Learning Objective 1: Obtain an understanding of the process for performing the special inspections in accordance with ASTM E2174 and E2393. Learning Objective 2: Identify best practices for building and property owners for managing firestop installations and the special inspection process per the applicable requirements. Learning Objective 3: Identify what types of buildings are subject to special inspections for firestopping systems. Learning Objective 4: Obtain an understanding of what the minimum credentials of a special inspector is and the conflict-of-interest check required by the ASTM standards.