NFPA 101 INSPECTION

NFPA 101 Inspection



NFPA 101 Inspection

INTRODUCTION

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is a U.S. organization (albeit with some international members) charged with creating and maintaining minimum standards and requirements for fire prevention and suppression activities, training, and equipment, as well as other life-safety codes and standards. This includes everything from building codes to the personal protective equipment utilized by firefighters while extinguishing a blaze. The NFPA was formed in 1896 by a group of insurance firm representatives with the stated purpose of standardizing the new and burgeoning market of fire sprinkler systems. The scope of the NFPA's influence grew from sprinklers to include building electrical systems (another new and fast-growing technology), and then all aspects of building design and construction.

Administered, copyrighted, and published by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the Life Safety Code, NFPA 101 is known as the registered trademark of an American consensus standard. It is like many documents of NFPA that have been revised systematically in a three year cycle (Begal, Bill, 2007). The standard, despite its title, is not a legal code; it is not published annually as an instrument of law and statutory has no authority unless having adopted by the Authority jurisdiction. The standard is adopted widely in the United States. However, it has been deliberately crafted with languages that are suitable for mandatory application to facilitate adoption into those empowered by law to do so (Begal, Bill, 2007).

The bulk of the standard addresses "this construction, protection, and occupancy features to minimize risk necessary to life from fire, including smoke, fumes, or panic."The standard does not address the general fire prevention or building construction features that are normally a function of fire prevention codes and building codes" (Begal, Bill, 2007).

Why a building inspection is important?

Buying a new home is an exciting time, and when you find your dream home it can be easy to get caught up and feel you must have it whatever it takes. Exercising a little caution can be a wise move. A home is an enormous investment, involving a lot of different costs, including government duties, agent and conveyance fees (Bowman, Balch, Artaxo, 2009). The last thing you want to do is spend your life's savings and discover your new home is going to cost you even more in repairs. Make sure before you buy that your home does not have existing problems by having a qualified building inspector go through the house first (Bowman, Balch, Artaxo, 2009).

The cost of not doing an inspection

It is not the cost of having the inspection that you should be concerned about, but rather the potential costs of not having a professional through the house. It would be devastating to think you have bought the house of your dreams, and spent all you can afford, and then discover it is going to cost you even more in repairs. You may be lucky and avoid any problems, or at least only superficial ones, but some massive issues can be hidden and not discovered ...