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Hillside, Ill. — Sept. 22, 2015 — The Firestop Contractors International Association (FCIA) is strongly focused on promoting knowledge and awareness of the importance of life safety, firestopping, and effective compartmentation within the healthcare, education, and other building occupancies.
Life safety is a universal concern, and firestopping and effective compartmentation are the tools needed to ensure life safety by restricting the spread of fire and smoke in buildings. For healthcare facilities, this is especially critical because of the “Defend in Place” strategy often used. Buildings with insufficient firestopping and effective compartmentation systems allow the potential spread of fire and smoke, which compromises occupant safety, opening the door for potential loss of life. But, in recent years, the top two survey violations found during Joint Commission audits of healthcare facilities were penetrations and door issues in fire- and smoke-rated barriers.
The Barrier Management Symposium focuses on the proper "DIIM" – design, installation, inspection, and maintenance/management – of fire- and smoke-rated barriers and their various features that make effective compartmentation systems in healthcare facilities work at the time they are called upon by fire and smoke, including firestopping, fire dampers, fire-rated glazing, and fire doors.
Hosted by local ASHE regions around the nation, the highly successful Barrier Management Program faculty travels to Bristol, Tenn., and the Wellmont Bristol Regional Medical Center for the first-time to educate heathcare facility professionals in the region about how barriers are designed, installed, inspected, and managed to ensure long-term success.
“Education works, and the Barrier Management Symposiums have proved it,” stated The Joint Commission’s George Mills at a recent ASHE Annual Convention. Supporting this statement is the fact that violations for Life Safety Code required barriers are down in rankings by almost half.
Said FCIA Executive Director Bill McHugh, “The Barrier Management Symposiums are changing the Healthcare environment for the better.”
The Barrier Management Symposium is a two-day event tailored to healthcare facility engineers, directors, and staff, as well as building code officials and fire marshals.
Hosted by ASHE Region 3, the upcoming BMS program will be held at the Wellmont Bristol Regional Medical Center in Bristol, Tenn., on Nov. 16-17, 2015. Attendees can expect to hear from FCIA, The Joint Commission, Koffel Associates, UL, USG, the Door & Hardware Institute, GREENHECK, Inc., and Technical Glass Products.
To register online for this event, visit https://myprereg.com//Events/FCIAB15.
