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On June 30, 2007, the Ninth Edition of Underwriters Laboratories (UL) 864 will take effect—with an enormous impact on the worldwide fire alarm industry. The UL 864 standard covers fire-detection and fire-protection equipment. UL 864, "Standard for Control Units and Accessories for Fire Alarm Systems," has been around since 1948. Yet, to fully appreciate the scope of the revisions to UL 864, the Eighth Edition of UL 864 published in 1996 was 108 pages. The Ninth Edition, adopted in October 2003, is 230 pages.
Considering that most of the previous changes to UL 864 were relatively minor from edition to edition, the Ninth Edition is basically a complete rewrite and the first major revision that the industry has seen in years. Since UL 864 covers all equipment that detects fire, reports on fire, and essentially has anything to do with fire including fire alarm control panels, sprinklers, and extinguishers, it makes the scope of the changes even more noteworthy.
CLASSES OF CHANGE
The first step in understanding the extent of these revisions is to have a more in-depth understanding of UL 864 itself. Outside of Europe, UL 864 is essentially the standard that governs the worldwide fire protection industry. There are other standards relating to equipment such as smoke detectors, but UL 864, first adopted in 1948, is by far the most significant.
Essentially, UL 864 attempts to follow changes in the life safety codes, most notably NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) 72. There are various chapters in NFPA 72; each chapter is managed and updated on a regular cycle by a committee of industry and subject matter experts, including manufacturers of smoke detectors, sprinkler systems, and fire alarms, as well as engineers and installers. While the most recent edition of NFPA 72 was adopted in 2002, each city and town in the United States chooses which edition of NFPA 72 they will follow. For example, Washington, D.C. is currently following the 1996 Edition.
Yet despite this inconsistency in the adoption of NFPA 72's various incarnations, Underwriters Laboratories is driven by a desire to keep pace with the most current Edition of NFPA 72. Consequently, the organization undertook the rewrite of the UL 864 Eighth Edition. Referred to as the Fire Alarm Control Unit and Accessories Standard, UL 864 Ninth Edition incorporates an implementation schedule calling for all fire alarm control equipment manufactured after October 2005 to comply with the new standard in order to receive the UL mark.
Although adopted in September 2003, companies producing equipment covered by the standard were given two years to effect changes to existing control equipment and to get that equipment tested against the requirements of the new standard. For manufacturers to be guaranteed that equipment would be tested and certified in time, UL mandated that equipment be resubmitted to them prior to February 2005. Any equipment not resubmitted by that time was not guaranteed of gaining approvals in prior to the October 2005 deadline.
Although few of the changes are significant when taken individually, the cumulative impact of these changes is critical for manufacturers to comprehend. In fact, just the amount of equipment that needs to be re-listed makes this a major change. UL 864 Ninth Edition encompasses at least four "classes" of change:
- Changes that make the standard consistent with the new editions of NFPA 72.
- Changes that make the standard consistent with UL's practice in testing products.
- Changes to bring 864 into agreement with other related UL safety standards.
- And changes in the scope of the standard itself.
The expanded scope of the standard now covers NFPA 13 (sprinklers), NFPA 15 (water spray systems), NFPA 16 (foam water systems), NFPA 17 (dry chemical extinguishing), NFPA 17A (wet chemical extinguishing), NFPA 92A (smoke control), NFPA 92B (smoke management in malls, etc.), and NFPA 2001 (clean agent extinguishing systems). These are in addition to the standards already covered in the Eighth Edition (NFPA 12, 12A, 12B, and 72).
Due to system design being driven by NFPA 72 and building codes, system designers should notice no effect by the updates to UL 864; Ninth Edition applies solely to the actual equipment. For example, NFPA 72 has required that the response time for an alarm must be 10 seconds or less for at least two code cycles; the Ninth Edition of UL 864 puts this into the equipment standard.
OVERALL BENEFITS
With this as a backdrop, the important issues to consider include the benefit to the public of this rewrite, as well as the impact on manufacturers as they ramp up their efforts to comply with the standard. The benefit of the standard to the public is obvious: they will get more robust products that meet more stringent performance standards and will pass more rigorous testing. The products will be based on more current technologies and will do a more effective job of protecting the public from fire by alerting them to fire hazards more quickly and more effectively.
It would be disingenuous to say that the Ninth Edition will not place a financial and labor burden on equipment manufacturers. The amount of equipment that most manufacturers have resubmitted — and will continue to resubmit — is substantial. The time and effort to properly follow the resubmission procedures is similarly significant. And of course, there is the obvious cost to achieve the product design necessary to meet the standard.
However, Notifier, for example, has been resubmitting products on a continuous basis and is confident of meeting the compliance deadline. What's more, this effort is benefiting fire systems dealers, who can use the new standard as a catalyst to "clean out" and replace products with the UL 864 compliant units.
The deadline for compliance with UL 864's Ninth Edition is fast approaching, whether equipment manufacturers are ready for it or not. For the public, it will be a springboard to better, safer products. For equipment manufacturers, it will serve as a de facto test of financial, design and labor strength. Those equipped to deal with it will find themselves stronger when the proverbial smoke clears.
author: By Mike Lynch, Sr. Vice President, Engineering, Notifier, Honeywell Fire Systems.