Merlin Guilbeau, the executive director of the The National Burglar & Fire Alarm Association (NBFAA), will be working with the International Code Council's Industry Advisory Committee.
The appointment was announced on Wednesday by the NBFAA. It is the first time the NBFAA has been invited to have a voice inside the ICC.
According to meeting agendas and notes published on the ICC's website, www.iccsafe.org, the ICC Industry Advisory Committee meets approximately twice a year to offer comments on various ICC code proposals. The advisory committee includes a broad range of industries in its ranks, including members from associations that represent such industries as gas, concrete, architecture, timber construction, public health and civil engineering.
The ICC is comprised of a number of councils which formulate codes and standards for fire systems, building construction, mechanical/plumbing systems and more. The ICC's Industry Advisory Committee is online at http://www.iccsafe.org/cs/cc/iac/.
NBFAA's President-Elect George Gunning will be the alternate to the advisory committee, and in a statement announcing the appointment, he noted that having a presence "demonstrates NBFAA’s commitment to the development of standardized codes that benefit consumers, public safety and our industry."
"We feel that because they're so much in the business of producing codes that get accepted locally, as well as across the country and even internationally, it's important for us to be sitting at the table during those discussion to provide input that reflects the needs of our industry," explained the NBFAA's Director of Communications Georgia Calaway.
Calaway noted that Guilbeau also is interetested in having NBFAA representatives involved on other ICC committees and councils of the ICC to expand the organization's voice.
The appointment of Guilbeau to the ICC follows closely behind the much contested NFPA Standard 731, where one of the chief issues was that the alarm industry wasn't able to provide much input before it was adopted. While the alarm industry now has a presence regarding 731 thanks to the NBFAA's George Bish, the pain of being left out of early discussions seems to still smart in the industry.
"We need to be involved early enough to make code-writing bodies aware of our issues," explained Calaway."And now being part of the ICC, we'll be able to tell our members, 'These are things that are going on that will have an impact on your business.'"
