In any setting, the need to provide security and life safety often seem to result in conflicting design concerts. Current editions of ICC and NFPA codes address the concerns but maybe not always in a manner that is acceptable to all stakeholders. The increased focus on behavior health facilities has raised the level of awareness as to the conflicts that might arise. At the beginning of this webinar, participants will be asked to identify apparent conflicts that they have experienced when designing behavioral health units.
The program will then focus on addressing the apparent conflicts by identifying some of the alleged conflicts. Each conflict will then be discussed in detail looking at current code requirements, changes in more recent editions of the applicable codes, and looking at equivalencies or alternative methods that could be considered. As with other design considerations, involvement of all the stakeholders will be illustrated as a key factor in achieving an acceptable level of life safety while meeting the needs of the patients and clinical staff in a behavioral health environment.
Experts
Bill Koffel is President of Koffel Associates, a fire protection and life safety engineering design and consulting firm, recognized as an expert in the fire protection and life safety aspects of codes and standards. Headquartered in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area, the firm provides consulting; engineering design & construction administration; codes & standards development; seminar development & training; product testing & evaluation / representation; and litigation support to public and private clients worldwide.
Bill remains active in the development process of the industry’s governing codes, standards and design guidelines including International Code Council (ICC), NFPA, Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) and Underwriters Laboratory (UL). As former code official with the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office, he was conducted licensure, certification, and accreditation surveys of various health care facilities. Bill serves on numerous NFPA Technical Committees including serving as the Chair of the NFPA Life Safety Technical Committee on Health Care Occupancies and he is also a member of the ICC Committee on Healthcare.