New guidelines include detailed specifications for alarm design and installation.

The revised Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG), which harmonize the ADA guidelines with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI),were completed last year. The Access Board, an independent federal agency devoted to accessibility for people with disabilities, coordinated extensively with these model code groups and standard-setting bodies so that differences could be reconciled. Through this update, the Board sought to make its guidelines more consistent with model building codes and industry standards in order to make compliance easier.

The guidelines have not taken effect yet and are not mandatory for the public, but instead serve as the baseline for enforceable standards. Essentially, the Access Board only writes the ADAAG as a “standard,” which then has to be adopted by the affected governmental bodies. In this respect, they are similar to a model building code in that they are not required to be followed except as adopted by an enforcing authority.

Under the ADA, the Department of Justice and, in the case of transit facilities, the Department of Transportation, are responsible for enforceable standards based on the Board’s guidelines. These agencies will update their accessibility standards based on the new guidelines. In doing so, they will indicate when the new standards are to be followed.

The final revised guidelines are not enforceable and will not have any impact until they are adopted as enforceable standards by the following agencies:

• Department of Justice: State and local government facilities, places of public accommodation and commercial facilities
• Department of Transportation: Public transportation facilities owned or operated by state and local governments and the National Railroad Passenger Corporation
• Department of Housing and Urban Development: Federally financed residential facilities
• Department of Defense: Military facilities
• United States Postal Service: Postal facilities
• General Services Administration: All other federally financed facilities

The Department of Justice, Department of Transportation, Department of Housing and Urban Development and General Services Administration will publish a notice in the federal register regarding a comment period on whether to adopt the final revised guidelines as enforceable standards.

All of these departments are on separate timeframes for adoption. This will likely result in even more confusion as some groups apply the standards of the old ADAAG while some have already adopted the new set, including the USPS, which has identified Oct. 1, 2005, as the active date. In contrast, the Department of Justice is particularly slow, and the Access Board tech support hot line has suggested that it might be two years away from adoption. The following steps need to take place:

• Analyze public comments from comment period that ended May 31, 2005.
• Reissue the “proposed rule” incorporating the public comments.
• Hold another public comment period, including public hearings around the country.
• Analyze public comments.
• Finalize the new ADAAG as an enforceable standard with effective dates.

What Changes Lie Ahead or Fire Safety?

Chapter 7: “Communication Elements and Features” expands on the fire and life-safety system changes that will affect building professionals based on adoption of the proposed ADAAG.

This chapter provides technical criteria for communication elements, such as fire alarms (702), signs (703), telephones (704), detectable warnings (705), assistive listening systems (706), ATMs and fare machines (707) and two-way communication systems (708).

Substantive changes include: addressing technical criteria for fire alarms through the National Fire Alarm Code (NFPA 72), which effectively overhauls specifications for visual alarms in a manner that will facilitate compliance while enhancing design and installation options.

The new ADAAG goes a long way toward reconciling the differences between it and NFPA 72 that have resulted in confusion over the past several years. Once it is fully adopted, the guideline will make compliance for notification appliances much easier.

Tags: A/V Notification, Industry update

Posted in Audible/Visible Notification, Design and Installation, FIRE/LIFE SAFETY CODES, Fall 2005