The use of NFPA codes and standards is increasingly common in Latin American countries, given that they provide minimum design, construction and maintenance requirements, which allow us to ensure and have confidence in the achievement of fire safety objectives. In them, a concept that we develop today is immersed, the Competent Authority.
When you use any of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) documents for the first time, you discover the large number of references to other codes and standards, which make up a set of complementary requirements, which requires knowing and using more than one document. to successfully complete a project. For this reason, we will refer to the set of NFPA codes and standards as a regulatory system.
The development of a regulatory system, such as the one described above, is difficult to achieve in Latin America, which is why there are countries that have adopted some of its codes, such as NFPA 101 Life Safety Code and its complementary standards, and others that have developed their own requirements, but that include references to design and installation standards, such as NFPA 13 and NFPA 72, to name a few. Thus, in one way or another, whether by adoption or by reference, in Latin America we use the NFPA regulatory system.
The use of said regulatory system in Latin America, however, presents some challenges that are not explicit and that, if not resolved, can generate difficulties in the correct application of its requirements. One of these challenges corresponds to the definition of the responsibilities and powers that the different parties involved must have, there being, in particular, a figure of vital relevance, which corresponds to the Competent Authority.
The expression corresponds to a translation of the English term, Authority Having Jurisdiction (in its acronym AHJ that we will use from now on), whose official NFPA definition will be found in Chapter 3 of Definitions of each of the standards, and in the majority in the point 3.2.2, where it is defined as “an organization, office or individual responsible for enforcing the requirements of a code or standard, or for approving equipment, materials, a facility or a procedure.”
It is important to clarify that the term Competent in the Spanish translation refers to Jurisdiction, which we should interpret as the figure that has the power of the authority, in the context of the codes and standards, the definition having no relationship with expertise, aptitude or suitability that the authority has with respect to the subject, but rather to the legal scope and the powers that correspond to it due to its responsibility. Now, it is clearly desirable that the authority with jurisdiction over the subject have the necessary technical knowledge to adequately fulfill its responsibility.
Within the NFPA explanatory material it is added “The phrase competent authority or its acronym AHJ is used broadly in NFPA documents, since jurisdictions and approval agencies vary, as do their responsibilities.
Where the priority is public safety, the competent authority may be a federal, state, local or regional department, such as a senior fire official, a fire marshal, a head of a fire prevention office, labor department or Health Department; a construction official; an electrical inspector; or others with statutory authority.
For insurance purposes, the competent authority may be an inspection department of insurance companies, a classification office or another representative of an insurance company. In many circumstances, the owner or his or her designated representative assumes the role of competent authority; In governing facilities, the commanding officer or departmental officer may be the competent authority.”
From the definition of the AHJ it is clear how broad its tasks and responsibilities are and these can fall on more than one entity, organization or person during the different stages of a project.
An example of this corresponds to a project to construct a warehouse or warehouse for an international company, where the design of fire protection means is left in the hands of local professionals. Firstly, a process of registration and approval of the project by a government third party is expected, such as a ministry, municipality, mayor's office or the term that best applies in each country; Another alternative is that this is the responsibility of a fire department; it could even be the case that both have implications and, in this case, two AHJs are identified for the same project.
On the other hand, as is often the case in some large international companies, there may be a corporate guideline that is the responsibility of an internal security or protection department, which is interpreted as a third AHJ.
Finally, it is very likely that said infrastructure must have an insurance policy, so the insurance company will also ensure adequate fire protection and may establish additional requirements, becoming a fourth AHJ for the same project.
The AHJ(s) will vary from project to project and also between its different stages. The success of a project implies the adequate and early identification of the Competent Authorities involved from the planning stage, their participation being vital when establishing the objectives and protection strategies, where their incorporation into the work team may even be necessary. . To correctly identify AHJ, the regulatory framework, the occupation to be protected and the parties involved must be evaluated.
The AHJ is involved transversally in every fire protection project, having relevance not only to guarantee the correct application of the applicable codes and standards, but also provides support against possible interpretations and, in addition, has direct influence and the power to define how various critical aspects should be addressed. Some examples of the AHJ's intervention are the following.
Given the possibility that the prescriptive requirements indicated in the codes or standards are not feasible when changing the type of occupancy of an existing building or when an innovative system is intended to be used, which is not included in the standards and cannot be be tested according to the required procedures, the AHJ has as a rule the power to approve said projects through an equivalence process, where through a documented technical evaluation an engineering analysis is carried out, which allows demonstrating and guaranteeing that in the scenario of a fire achieves a level of fire safety equal to or better than that which would have been obtained if the code requirements were applied and complied with.
The involvement of the AHJ in the design of a fire network ranges from the general level, having to present all the work plans for approval and any modification must require its permission; down to the particular, even having to be consulted regarding the quantity and type of hoses to be installed in the booths that are installed next to the hydrants, in case these are considered for the use of plant personnel or a brigade. of fire.
Some standards such as NFPA 25 define that inspections, tests and maintenance must be carried out by qualified personnel, which corresponds to a competent and capable person who has met the requirements and training for a certain field, acceptable to the AHJ, One of their roles being to define the requirements for training, experience, among others.
As has been detailed, the AHJ should not be understood solely as responsible for the approval or final acceptance of a facility, since it must be involved in a participatory and decisive manner from the initial stage of a project, to approve or reject the project. use of standards and codes or alternative design methods, for the qualification of personnel, use and provision of specific equipment or materials, and for the exception or definition of additional requirements, among many others.
It is necessary to maintain the existence of one or more AHJ throughout the useful life of an installation, with the purpose of guaranteeing compliance over time with the requirements of the codes or standards, which is the responsibility of the owner, especially when modifications to the installation or its contents and also for inspection, testing and maintenance work on the means of protection.
If this figure does not exist, the definition by the owner of an independent, non-governmental, internal or external AHJ is required, to verify the permanence of regulatory and normative compliance, with the consideration that it is not recommended that this verification function falls on directly to the person responsible for carrying out the work to be controlled or verified.
Finally, one of the challenges involved in the use of NFPA codes and standards in Latin America is the necessary incorporation, in the corresponding regulatory frameworks, of a clear definition of the AHJ in each of the stages of a construction project. fire protection and throughout the useful life of a facility, as well as the responsibilities of all parties involved, in order to adequately meet the required life safety and fire protection objectives.
Author: CRISTOBAL MIR GACITUA