A New Standard In Fire Protection

Jul 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Jayson Kneen

On Dec. 31, 2008, the Ninth Edition of Underwriters Laboratories (UL) 864 will take effect, and the standard related to fire systems will subsequently have an enormous impact on the worldwide fire alarm industry. For fire alarm equipment manufacturers, it will serve as a de facto test of financial, engineering and manufacturing strength. In fact, it already has.

Few changes to the standard are significant when taken individually, but the cumulative impact has forced fire alarm manufacturers to redesign or update much of their product lines in order to comply. The amount of equipment that most manufacturers have submitted to UL for testing and approval — and will continue to submit — is substantial.

UL 864 has been the Standard for Control Units and Accessories for Fire Alarm Systems since 1948. Over the years, minor changes have been made to each new edition of the standard. But the scope of the revisions to UL 864 Ninth Edition is substantial: The Eighth Edition of UL 864, which took effect in November 1996, was 108 pages long. The Ninth Edition is 230 pages. It is, by any measure, an extensive revision.

Perhaps extensive changes should have been expected, given that the Ninth Edition of UL 864 is the first major revision in nine years. Because UL 864 covers all fire alarm control panels and ancillary equipment, the scope of the changes is even more noteworthy.

The first step toward understanding the extent of the revisions is to take a more in-depth look at UL 864 itself. With the exception of Europe, UL 864 is generally the standard that governs the worldwide fire protection industry. Individual countries have adopted other standards, but UL 864 is by far the most significant and widely followed.

Essentially, UL 864 follows closely changes in the life safety codes, most notably National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 72. Chapters in NFPA 72 cover various aspects of life safety, and each chapter is managed and updated on a regular cycle by a committee of industry and subject matter experts. These experts represent manufacturers of smoke detectors, sprinkler systems and fire alarms, as well as engineering firms and fire alarm installers. The most recent edition of NFPA 72 was adopted in 2002.

UL undertook the rewrite of UL 864 to keep pace with the most current edition of NFPA 72. UL 864 Ninth Edition originally incorporated an implementation schedule that required 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 test it against the new standard's requirements. However, after meeting with the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) in the summer of 2005, UL delayed the deadline to June 30, 2007, to accommodate the vast amount of equipment submitted for compliance testing. On May 19, 2007, the date was extended again to Dec. 31, 2008.

Equipment manufacturers will feel the financial and labor burden of complying with the standard. The time and effort to properly follow submission procedures are significant. There is also the obvious cost of the product design necessary to meet the standard.

Considering the investment in time, finances and labor equipment manufacturers will have to make to earn UL 864 Ninth Edition listings, it's clear the new standard is collectively a major change. In fact, UL 864 Ninth Edition encompasses at least four “classes” of change:

• changes that make the standard consistent with the current edition of NFPA 72;

• changes that make the standard consistent with UL's practice in testing products;

• changes to bring UL 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 the following: 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).

Firms that design fire alarm systems will feel little impact from UL 864 Ninth Edition because system design is driven by NFPA 72 and other local or federal building codes. In actuality, UL 864 Ninth Edition applies solely to the actual fire alarm equipment; it has no effect on how systems are installed. For example, NFPA 72 requires the response time for an alarm to be 10 seconds or fewer for at least two code cycles; the Ninth Edition of UL 864 incorporates this time into the equipment standard.

Other key changes are as follows: enhanced resistance to RF interference, better synchronization of notification appliances, greater software integrity, broader programming requirements and updates in supervision, monitoring, compatibility and power transmission. In short, fire alarm products listed in accordance with the Ninth Edition of UL 864 will carry with them the confidence and assurance of meeting, or exceeding, the latest industry safety standards.

For the public, UL 864's Ninth Edition will be a springboard to better, safer fire alarm products. The benefit of the standard is obvious: Users 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. And building owners, architects and engineers specifying UL 864 Ninth Edition-listed products can be confident that their fire alarm system is equipped for the demands of the 21st century.

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Jayson Kneen is marketing communications manager for NOTIFIER, a manufacturer of engineered fire alarm systems. He received his bachelor of science in fire science technology from the University of New Haven and an MBA from Southern Connecticut State University. He is NICET Level II-certified.

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