Industry News

NFPA’s Building Code Technical Correlating Committee has voted to release the draft of the highly anticipated NFPA 5000, the first building code to be developed using the ANSI open consensus process. Publication of the draft code presents the first of many opportunities for all interested parties to provide input on and participate in the development of NFPA 5000. When finalized, the NFPA Building Code will round out NFPA’s Consensus Codes—a full set of codes for the built environment.

“Publication of the draft is an important step forward in the development of a building code that is grounded in true consensus,” said George Miller, NFPA president. “This significant achievement is the result of hard work from NFPA volunteers, representing a wide variety of interests, who serve on the Building Code Technical Correlating Committee. As this process moves ahead, input and active participation from all sources will continue to be essential.”

With the release of the draft building code, NFPA will enter into the next phase of its code development process and will begin accepting public proposals for changes tot the draft. Public proposals must be received by NFPA no later than 5:00 p.m. EST/EDST on Nov. 9, 2000. The NFPA Technical Committees will then begin addressing those proposals and will have the opportunity to develop their own proposals in order to insure that all of the necessary content is in place and that all of the criteria is coordinated. All interested parties may provide input on NFPA 5000 throughout the code development process, which will continue through May of 2002, when the document will be up for vote by the NFPA membership.

USG one of the world’s best managed

USG Corp. is on the fifth annual list of Industry Week’s 100 Best-Managed Companies chosen by editors at IW and a panel of international experts.

Candidates for this compilation were culled from the Industry Week 1000, a list of the world’s largest publicly held manufacturing companies based on revenues. Each company was selected after a lengthy evaluation that included the following four steps: analysis of the company’s financial performance; review of a questionnaire that each IW 1000 company was given an opportunity to complete; research into each company’s practices in areas such as philanthropy and safety; and voting by a panel of more than 90 business leaders, analysts and academicians.

Over 4,000 construction firms certified

In 2000, more than 1,020 construction industry professionals successfully completed one or more of CSI’s certificate/certification programs. To date more than 4,350 architectural/design, specifications, contractor and construction product manufacturing companies employ CSI credentialed practitioners.

Senergy insurance summit“produces positive results”

EIFS manufacturer Senergy is proclaiming positive results following the Insurance Summit it held in late August at its Jacksonville headquarters. The company says presentations and discussions among the multi-disciplined group confirmed its perceptions that contractors can indeed obtain general liability insurance.

John Salvatore, president and CEO of Senergy stated, “We had a great meeting. We learned much more about each other’s perspectives and the alternative strategies available to contractors. We are now in a better position to resolve these issues for our distributors and contractors.”

AEP recycles ash residue for concrete products

American Electric Power has found a way to further ease its reliance on landfills by recycling coal ash and scrubber residue into a material designed to replace concrete in construction projects. Ceracrete Technologies Inc., Richmond, Va., developed technology to convert ash and scrubber residue into Ceracrete, a performance repair material that uses 50 percent coal ash.

Williamette’s pass third-party audit

Williamette Industries’ forests lands in North Carolina and South Carolina have passed a third-party audit for sustainability. Completed in early August, the audit certifies that forest management activities in Williamette’s Eastern region are in full compliance with the standards of the American Forest & Paper Association’s Sustainable Forestry Initiative programs.