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Ask An Expert
February, 2010
How can the industry influence the development of Codes and standards? What can be gained from participating in the process?
Our expert:
Fred Leber, C.E.T., F.S.F.P.E., C.E.O., LEBER/RUBES INC. Fire Protection and Consulting Engineers
Fred’s answer:
Initially in 1976, my employer asked me to sub for my manager at a CSA meeting on fire alarm control units (CSA-222.0). It was enlightening. People I had never met were discussing problems I had encountered in our products and in my fieldwork – awesome. I actually started looking forward to learning something in the dark and smoke-filled meeting rooms of the day.
Shortly after my first meeting, the Standards Council of Canada transferred responsibility for all the fire protection system standards to Underwriter’s Laboratories of Canada Limited (ULC). Fortunately, I was able to continue contributing to standards development with ULC. My activities as a standards developer continued throughout my career from R&D through applications engineering and finally to founding a fire protection consulting engineering firm.
As fire protection consultants, we operate in a very controlled environment. Codes and standards regulate and sometimes limit our actions. We deal with municipal by-laws, 10 provincial Codes, 3 territorial Codes and national building and fire Codes.
The Codes while telling us what to do, in turn reference standards telling us how to do it. Our U.S. and other international activities contribute even more. We have NBC, NFC, ULC, UL, NFPA, CSA, ISO and so on.
It’s easy to see that we have considerable incentive to participate in the Codes and standards development process. As consultants, we must know what is in the documents – i.e. which are legislated and which are not, which Codes and standards are applicable or not, and the content of referenced standards.
One of the best ways to do that is to contribute to their preparation. It can also be seen as self-defence.
Participation and contribution ensures that developers, building owners/operators or manufacturers are not surprised by a sudden change in requirements. A market niche can be protected; preparations can be made for upcoming changes to facilitate budgeting and mitigate costs; rework can be avoided; and, most importantly, compliance with the laws of the land is more assured.
Another incentive becomes obvious when we consider that participation can initiate positive change. Have you complained about a requirement in the building code or in a related standard? Have you cursed, as unnecessary, some requirement you consider frivolous or meaningless?
Participation gives you the very real opportunity to make changes or you could actually learn why a particular requirement has been implemented. You have the opportunity to learn from others and their experiences. It may or not make sense at that point but you would at least have the opportunity to make a change and at the same time, to be exposed to new ideas.
This leads us to another, and vital, reason to participate: networking and personal development. This is an opportunity to meet your peers, meet potential clients and build relationships for the future. My attendance at a few meetings in 1976 made me realize that there was a fire protection community out there of which I had almost zero knowledge.
Industries can become myopic. I saw opportunities for my company and for me personally that had not existed for me previously. The knowledge gained from these activities makes participants more useful and productive in their businesses.
Related benefits include access to information and experts in the field. Meeting attendance and the inevitable networking gives participants access to the information sources used by others in their own and related businesses.
Finally, there is the very personal benefit of sharing what you know. It’s an ego boost to know you can contribute, while also learning. It’s an opportunity to improve conditions for the public and in that way effect changes in society in general. It is very satisfying to know that what you have learned and continue to contribute has a far-reaching benefit.
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