An Association of Contractors and Manufacturers Providing Passive Fire Protection to Structural Materials
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An Association of Contractors and Manufacturers Providing Passive Fire Protection to Structural Materials |
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The NFCA represents contractors who install passive fireproofing products to protect building structural materials from fire and manufacturers who provide those products. Member contractors install sprayed fireproofing, intumescent coatings and fireproofing board products. Contractors are approved to install these materials by fireproofing product manufacturers and some are covered by the UL Qualified Contractor Program. The NFCA works to improve the proper use and application of industry products through development of standard practices and educational programs for both product users and members. |
NFCA News |
July 25, 2008 Mader Southeast Joins NFCA NFCA announces that Mader Southeast of Orlando, FL joined the NFCA as a contractor member. David Cockrum is Mader's representative to NFCA functions. Full contact details are available on the contractors page and on the Florida state listing. Welcome to the NFCA. July 3, 2008 September SFRM Training Program and UL Examination Announced NFCA announces a SFRM training program provided as preparation to taking the UL DRI examination for September 16-17, 2008 in Brea, CA. This day and one half training program covers a broad array of materials from which the UL examination is developed. Provided to registrants is a NFCA Training Manual for study before coming to Brea. A full program description and registration forms are available in the following document. Hotel accommodations are available in the announcement. Complete the registration form and send to the NFCA by August 15, 2008 to participate. NFCA Brea, CA SFRM Training Program
June 20, 2008 Isolatek Announces California Plant Isolatek International is pleased to announce a new state of the art facility located at 4062 N. Georgia Blvd., San Bernardino, California. This 70,000 square foot facility will open on June 16, 2008 as a company owned warehouse operation and scheduled to manufacture CAFCO products within the year. As the world leader in the manufacture and sale of passive fire protection products, this facility will substantially increase the production capacity servicing key markets in California and Nevada. This facility represents Isolatek's effort and commitment to our industry. We will continue to strive in providing superior technical/sales support, product offerings and an overall level of service the industry has come to expect. June 2, 2008 UL Article Targets Architects and Building Officials The Underwriters Laboratories article “Value of Quality Processes in the Contractor Industry” targets 7,500 architects and building officials. The author discusses the value of the SFRM and Firestop Qualified Contractor Program. The article points out the benefits of knowledgeable contractors using best practices developed around a contractor’s quality management program to install life safety products correctly the first time. The UL program includes an ongoing UL audit of the contractor’s practices to help ensure that the contractor maintains the high level of product applications. The knowledgeable individual in a SFRM contractor organization is called a Designated Responsible Individual (DRI) by UL. Currently 44 SFRM contractors have passed the UL DRI examination. Many of those contractor firms are creating their quality management program in preparation for the initial UL audit and final approval by UL as a Qualified SFRM Contractor.
March 10, 2008 Guidance Information Bulletins Now Online The NFCA has created bulletins detailing proper design information for SFRM and Intumescent fire protection materials. The Guidance Information Bulletins may be found under the “Technical Information” heading on this web site. The Bulletins provide design information on specific issues that may have been unclear in the past or on new design positions that need to be headed. Currently four Bulletins have been developed and include the following:
February 14, 2008 NFCA Participates in UL Fire Symposium Hubert Dudley, Executive Director of the NFCA presented a program on passive fire protection provided by NFCA represented products at the UL Fire Symposium in Alhambra, CA January 31 and February 1. The Symposium was attended over two days by 150 fire marshals, ICC code officials, architects and building managers. The message by Mr. Dudley covered the importance and benefits of SFRM and Intumescent in fire protection. He also covered the role of the NFCA and the new UL Qualified Contractor Program. February 1, 2008 NFCA Executive Director Appointed to ICC Exam Development Committee Last year the NFCA completed an ICC co-sponsor agreement for their SFRM and Intumescent inspector certification program. Hubert Dudley, Executive Director was appointed as a member of the Exam Development Committee. His will be responsible for reviewing exam questions and initiating new questions pertaining to structural steel fire protection. January 23, 2008 Clayton Coatings, Inc – First UL Qualified SFRM Contractor Underwriters Laboratories recently bestowed upon Clayton Coatings, Inc. of Everett, WA the title of 1st UL Qualified SFRM Contractor. The UL program requires the contractor to pass a written test, place into operation a quality management program, and pass a UL audit annually. Clayton Coatings completed all phases of these actions. Details of the announcement can be found in the NFCA Press Release.
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August 21, 2008 Three Contractors Join NFCA Three contractors located in Missouri, Pennsylvania and Washington state have just become NFCA members. The contractors contact information is available in the contractor listing on this web site and in the state listing. The contractors and their representative follow: T. J. Wies Contracting, Inc., Lake St. Louis, MO, Dean Lakey Easley & Rivers, Inc., Monroeville, PA, Mike Nehnevajsa Advanced Fireproofing & Insulation Company, Greenacres, WA, Wayne Kienbaum All of the new members will be working toward becoming a UL Qualified SFRM Contractor. April 23 , 2008 Intumescent Quality Assurance Procedure Online The NFCA announces the availability of "NFCA 400 - Field Quality Assurance Procedure for Application of Mastic and Thin-Film Intumescent Fire Resistive Coatings." This document defines contractor application requirements to help ensure the correct application procedures are used and that the correct applied thickness of intumescent coating has been installed. The document may be found under Standard Practice in the Technical Section of this web site. November 12, 2007 Presidents Message We have just completed a very successful 2007 NFCA annual conference in San Antonio, Texas. All of our attendees and spouses found San Antonio a unique and pleasant location and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We thank Carboline/AD, W. R. Grace, and Isolatek International for their sponsorship of our conference. Our technical, standards, and education committees held very productive meetings discussing and taking action on items including NFCA 400 (Standards for application of Intumescent Fireproofing), Quality Management System templates, review of UL certification check sheets, NFCA web site improvements, ICC Certified Inspector Program training, UL test design clarifications, and restrained versus unrestrained UL test system selection. Special thanks to Don Falconer, Johnny Lopez, and Kurt Neff for leading these committee meetings. Betsy Titus, UL Program Manager for the UL Qualified Contractor Program, gave us an update on the UL Qualified Contractor Program and announced that we currently have 41 NFCA members from all over the United States and Puerto Rico that have passed the UL examination and that we will have one member receive a UL site audit by years end. UL also announced that the price charged by UL to NFCA members for on-site audits will be lowered to $3,000.00 for the next year! The UL reduced price offer expires November 2, 2008. This is very exciting news and clearly demonstrates how much support UL is putting in to the program. NFCA members are being rewarded for being leaders in our industry! Overall, our 2007 conference demonstrated that the NFCA continues to gain momentum, increase our membership, benefit from our members active participation, and play a vital role in improving our industry. In 2008 we hope that all our members will continue to encourage non-members in their local marketplace to join the NFCA to ensure we all benefit from improved industry standards and quality management practices. Moving forward, our association has a bright future and our growing membership will provide and even stronger voice to better our industry. November 12 , 2007 UL Announces a One Year Cost Reduction for Qualified Contractor Program Betsy Titus, Underwriters Laboratories Manage of the SFRM Qualified Contractor Program announced a 50% reduction in the first year cost of the UL program. This announcement at the NFCA San Antonio Educational Conference reduces the first year cost to $3000.00 from $6000.00. This announced reduction will only be in effect for 12 months and end November 2, 2008. Mrs Titus stated that UL wanted to clearly demonstrate its support of this program by providing assistance to those contractors who participated during the early years of the program. She stated that 41 DRI's have been approved by UL following the completion of the NFCA Training Program and passing the UL written examination. Contractors must contact UL directly to take advantage of this cost reduction opportunity.
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