Certified amending motions on NFPA 72

Several motions on NFPA 72 were discussed at the NFPA meeting in June.

By William E. Koffel, PE, FSFPE, Koffel Associates Inc., Columbia, Md. July 27, 2015

Motions on the following public comments were certified as motions that were permitted to be made at the NFPA Conference and Expo, June 24-25, 2015. The motions were processed on June 25 and final action will be subject to any appeals to the NFPA standards council.

72-1: The motion will be to accept public comments 124 and 172, which will change the frequency for testing the supervisory switch on control valves from semiannually to annually.

72-2: The motion will be to reject second revision 71 and, as such, revise the maximum pulse duration for visible alarm notification appliances from 20 msec to 0.2 sec.

72-3: The motion will be to reject second revision 11, which would then require that smoke detectors in elevator hoistways be accessible for inspection, testing, and maintenance.

72-4: The motion will be to accept public comment 185, which would delete the new language concerning the performance of signaling line circuits in 23.6.1.

72-5: The motion will be to accept public comment 209, which would delete the reference to “not more than one zone” in 23.6.1 and replace it with “not more than 50 addressable devices.”

72-6: The motion will be to accept public comment 120, which makes some editorial changes to the list of two-way emergency communication systems (24.3.7.2) and adds emergency voice alarm communication systems (per 24.4) to the list.

72-7: The motion will be to accept public comment 119 by inserting “where required by applicable building codes” to paragraph 24.3.13.9.

72-8: The motion will be to accept public comment 140 by adding “when permitted by the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ)” to paragraph 26.5.3.1.3.

72-9: The motion will be to accept public comment 192, which will delete the text in paragraph 26.5.3.1.3.

Additional information regarding the process and the certified amending motions can be found on the NFPA website.


William E. Koffel is president of Koffel Associates. He is chair of the NFPA Correlating Committee on Life Safety and a member of numerous NFPA technical committees. He is a member of the Consulting-Specifying Engineer editorial advisory board.