29 November 2016
Proposed that “the 10-member committee of fire code enforcers, equipment manufacturers and professionals who work in extraction facilities have drafted a proposed marijuana chapter for the Fire Code of the National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit that develops safety codes and standards. Panel members hope it will give extractors and other cannabis industry businesses guidelines on how to fireproof their work environments and safely operate complicated machinery.”
Read the full MJ Biz report at http://mjbizdaily.com/proposed-national-fire-safety-codes-readied-for-cannabis-businesses/
You may also be interested in the following article published at the National Fire Protection Association website and entitled…
Welcome to the Jungle
With the marijuana industry poised for a rapid expansion, Colorado — epicenter of the country’s pot business — offers a host of lessons learned, including safety practices at commercial grow and extraction facilities, inspection protocols, and more
Here’s the introduction and link through to the full article
As the industry continues to gain ground, NFPA has convened a task group comprised of marijuana industry leaders, equipment manufacturers, and fire officials, mostly from Colorado, to craft a new chapter for NFPA 1, Fire Code, on marijuana grow and processing facilities. The NFPA 1 technical committee will review the proposed text of the new chapter at its upcoming meeting in October.
“A lot of jurisdictions are looking for guidance and they need something now,” said Kristin Bigda, principal fire protection engineer at NFPA and staff liaison for NFPA 1, who has been guiding the task group. “At the same time, I think the industry also wants regulation. We are dealing with an industry that may be new to fire codes, and there is an education that needs to take place about who NFPA is. We want to work with them.”
Once the NFPA 1 chapter is complete, a separate marijuana facilities standard addressing all aspects of marijuana growing and processing could follow. In the interim, NFPA may put out a guide or webpage that collects existing resources and documents that pertain to marijuana facilities in one place. “It took us six years to get to where we are now,” said Lukus, a task group member, “but other jurisdictions should be able to adopt something and hit the ground running.”
Many Colorado fire departments told me when I visited the state in July that they believe the substantial knowledge gap has mostly been closed. This year, Denver adopted a comprehensive chapter on marijuana facilities into its fire code. Many towns and cities from Breckenridge to Boulder also have robust rules, inspection and permitting processes, and enforcement practices in place to safeguard against some of the unique hazards present in grow and extraction facilities. Inspectors who knew nothing about cannabis in 2010 can now describe with the detail of a trained horticulturist the entire grow cycle of a marijuana plant and the equipment involved in its cultivation and processing. Fire marshals who hadn’t heard of marijuana extraction a few years ago can explain the process almost as well as some of the lab directors I met.
