NFPA Journal - March/April 2013 - (Page 10)

>>in a flash very encouraged by this—we have a window here, and it may represent an opportunity for adoption of NFPA codes in Brazil.” That window has been created in part by the approaching 2014 soccer World Cup— Rio de Janeiro will host a number of preliminary rounds as well as the championship—and by the 2016 Summer Olympics, which will also be held in Rio de Janeiro. The Boate Kiss nightclub fire has brought international attention to fire safety in the country, and Dolan says the attention only underscores the desire of Brazilian fire officials for modern and effective codes—especially NFPA 1, Fire Code—with standardized rules and regulations that would help them keep buildings and facilities up to date. “NFPA 1 would give them all the tools for the enforcement part of the job,” says Dolan, a former state fire marshal for New Jersey. “It’s all there: automatic sprinkler protection, interior finishes, crowd management, occupant load calculations, everything you need to make sure a building or facility is safe.” NFPA has expressed interest in working with Brazilian authorities and is exploring ways to further the adoption process in the country, including translating codes into Portuguese. Moncada says one possibility is that the documents, if they were adopted and amended by the state of Rio de Janeiro, could serve as model codes for other Brazilian states. That includes Rio Grande do Sul, where fire officials in Santa Maria also articulated a desire for codes that could help with enforcement. “With the Boate Kiss fire, their hands were tied,” Moncada says. “The building had been inspected, and even with some of the problems—combustible foam on the ceiling, essentially only one exit, no sprinkler protection—the inspectors couldn’t change anything, because of the existing codes.” The approach being considered by the state of Rio de Janeiro—wholesale change—is the right one, Moncada says, and is supported by many inspectors and fire service members throughout the country. “NFPA can have a tremendous positive impact in Brazil,” he says of the code adoption discussions. “I hope we can keep the conversation going.” 10 NFPA JOURNAL MARCH/APRIL 2013 Aviation officials ordered a global grounding of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in January. Charging Ahead As government officials investigate fires involving lithium-ion batteries, research efforts continue to evaluate the popular technology In January, the Federal avIatIon admInIstratIon (FAA) grounded all of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner passenger jets following two incidents involving lithium-ion batteries: an auxiliary power battery on a Japan Airlines 787 caught fire while parked at Boston’s Logan Airport, and an All Nippon Airways plane made an emergency landing in Japan after smoke alarms detected a battery fire near the front of the plane. The incidents are under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which discovered that one of the battery cells inside the Japan Airlines plane short-circuited and caused “thermal runaway,” or fire spread to other cells, according to the Los Angeles Times. NTSB officials said at a news conference in February that they are still determining the official cause One of the battery cells inside the of both fires. Japan Airlines plane short-circuited Meanwhile, research con- and caused “thermal runaway,” or tinues into this increasingly fire spread to other cells. popular energy source. Some of that work draws upon findings from a 2011 life cycle hazard assessment of these batteries. Commissioned by the Fire Protection Research Foundation, the report, Lithium-Ion Batteries Hazard and Use Assessment, identified the potential causes of battery failure, including defects leading to short circuits and cell manufacturing flaws. Following the release of the report, the Foundation hosted a workshop to discuss the findings with organizations interested in the issue, including the FAA, NTSB, and the Airline Pilots Association, International. Although the focus of the Foundation’s work was primarily on batteries in the warehouse storage context, members of the airline industry participated in the workshop to gain a better understanding of the basics of battery performance. In response to the Hazard and Use report, the Foundation initiated a study last year to identify flammability characteristics of three types of lithium-ion batteries in storage settings: packaged power tool battery packs, polymer-type batteries (used in laptops), and 18650 format cylindrical batteries (found in cell phones). The test results were made public after press time, but the Foundation told NFPA Journal in early February that the preliminary findings indicate that more work is needed to determine the appropriate ceiling sprinkler protection criteria for storage protection. For a report on the test results, visit nfpa.org/foundation. —Fred Durso, Jr. Photograph: AP/Wide World http://www.nfpa.org/foundation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - March/April 2013

NFPA Journal - March/April 2013
Contents
First Word
In a Flash
Perspectives
Firewatch
Research
Heads Up
Structural Ops
In Compliance
Buzzwords
Outreach
Electrical Safety
Wildfire Watch
Cover Story: Storage Occupancies
Fifty Years of Smoke Detection
Industrial Occupancies
Chicago 2013
Fire Analysis + Research
Section Spotlight
What’s Hot
Looking Back

NFPA Journal - March/April 2013