FRP Boosted by Building Code Changes

A change in the International Building Code will affect fabricators who supply products to the building and construction markets. Previously, the code failed to give guidance on how to use fiberglass reinforced plastics in various applications. It was treated as an exception to other materials, including aluminum, concrete, glass, stone, steel and wood. Revisions to the 2009 IBC will correct the discrepancy and give architects, engineers, specifiers and code officials a benchmark from which to approve the uses of FRP.

However, the change in the IBC requires fabricators to engage in product listing and labeling. Specifiers and code officials rely on third-party agencies such as Underwriters Laboratories and Southwestern Research Institute for assurance that products meet certain standards.

During the educational session Ensuring Success in the Building Code with Product Listing and Labeling at C+P 2009, speaker Nicholas Dembsey, PhD, associate professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, will talk about the content of the code change and what composites companies can do to implement a successful listing and labeling process in their facilities.

“Step one for the fabricator, if they want to be involved in the building environment, is that they need to know what products they want to sell to the building market, and then they need to contact a listing agency,” Dembsey says. A task group formed under the auspices of ACMA is working on a document to help fabricators with best practices in dealing with the process. For instance, when fabricators don’t  give agencies enough information about their products upfront, they can find themselves paying for more testing than is necessary.

Once the agency gathers information from the fabricator, it performs test on the products. “The agency will come to a facility and evaluate how a product is being mad. The fabricator works with the listing agency to develop a quality control process, and the agency verifies that’s what the fabricator is doing,” Dembsey says. “The agency will give a listing saying you passed certain tests, and will give you a label to put on the products saying you passed.”

Labeling allows specifiers and code officials to approve products without needing to know the technical differences between them. “The officials working with FRP needing to verify the safety of the building. They don’t necessarily know how to distinguish different  types of FRP,” Dembsey says. “Labeling gives the local authority who’s using a local amended version of the IBC a way to talk with FRP fabricators about getting products into buildings that makes sense.”

Dembsey’s session takes place on Thursday, Jan. 15, from 3 p.m. to 3:50 p.m. For more information, click here.