I am currently working on a project that assembles medical kits for use in hospitals. The kits include mostly group III commodities (paper sheets, sponges, bandages, gowns with a small amount (less than 4% by weight) of plastic bowls and trays. The materials for these kits as well as the finished kits are stockpiled in a warehouse area separate from the assembly area. There is no stock piling of any material in the assembly room. The material comes in and leaves on conveyer belts.
Based on the definition of Ordinary Hazard Group 1 in NFPA 13 5.3 (2002) I have classified this area as a group 1 occupancy. I have based this on the fact that there is no stockpiles of material and that the products are a class III commodity (since a class IV commodity would need to be at least 5% Group A plastics by weight). According to the Automatic Sprinkler Systems Handbook (2002) page 81, "Group 1 occupancies are mostly light manufacturing and service industries were the use of flammable and combustible liquids or gases is either nonexistent or very limited. Stock piles of combustible commodities typically found within and ordinary hazard group 1 occupancy cannot exceed a height of 8 ft. additionally, the quantity and arrangement of the stockpiles cannot exceed the limitations of miscellaneous storage as defined in Chapter 3.The ordinary hazard group 2 classification addresses those ordinary hazard occupancies that do not meet the criteria of the group 1 classifications" I felt that the assembly of these kits fit nicely with this description. The AHJ feels that the "combustibility" of class III commodities would mandate group 2. I have pointed out that many of the examples of group 1 occupancies listed in NFPA 13 (laundries, dairy products processing, electronics plants, bakeries, and canneries) either use or product class III commodities. I feel that the guidance given in the handbook relating to flammable liquids and gases should be the standard in determining combustibility. Anyway, thought I would throw this out there and see if anyone could give me any guidance or resources-or show me that I am off base. Just so everyone understands, we want to use extended coverage heads with 20 x 20 spacing. The existing system easily supports group 1 but will not support group 2. Thanks, Michael Ricks Katco Fire Sprinkler Design P.O. Box 607 555 South 100 East Salem, UT 84653 801-423-3096 Cell: 801-380-4651 [email protected] _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum For Technical Assistance, send an email to: [email protected] To Unsubscribe, send an email to:[email protected] (Put the word unsubscribe in the subject field)
