Life Safety Code for Existing Health Care Occupancies
Listed in: Life Safety
This post reviews a Life Safety Code reference for existing health care occupancies that is an allowance, rather than a requirement.
NFPA 101 (2012) 19.7.5.2 says:
Newly introduced upholstered furniture within health care occupancies shall comply with one of the following provisions, unless otherwise provided in 19.7.5.3:
- The furniture shall meet the criteria specified in 10.3.2.1 and 10.3.3.
- The furniture shall be in a building protected throughout by an approved, supervised automatic sprinkler system in accordance with 9.7.1.1(1).
In previous editions of the Life Safety Code, the fact that health care occupancies could be sprinklered was not a consideration, so upholstered furniture requirements were more stringent. Flammability, ignition characteristics, and a few other considerations had to be evaluated before furniture could be brought in to a facility. The acknowledgement of fire sprinkler systems has led to many Code allowances for health care occupancies, and 19.7.5.2(2) is a great example of this.