“The latest ICC model code adds functional requirements for certain fire safety equipment and expands the settings where they should be used…For new construction…the changes include:
- Low-frequency sounders should be placed in “I-1 occupancies,” such as “apartment-style nursing homes where there are people on staff but residents are expected to be able to self-rescue.”
- Sprinkler systems in new buildings must now be able to send unique alarm signals that alert a supervising station to the presence of flowing water.
- Carbon monoxide detectors must “annunciate at the control unit” and provide audio-visual alerts such as horns or strobes throughout the building unless the CO source can be contained to a confined area like a boiler room (though CO alarms must still send an alert to a continuously staffed station).
- New buildings cannot rely on duct detectors alone to monitor CO levels because duct detectors provide no information about the gas’s source.
- Testing and recordkeeping requirements for area-of-refuge smoke detection and emergency communications systems — typically placed in stairwells to support people who cannot self-rescue — have been brought in line with the stronger standards for fire alarms and other life safety equipment.
Some of these requirements, such as for carbon monoxide detectors, also apply to existing buildings that undergo significant renovations…”