Summary of Significant Proposed Changes

NBC – Parts 3 and 9

Residential Care Occupancy

A new occupancy classification designated Group B, Division 3, is being introduced. The proposed changes can be summarized as follows: a relaxation of the requirements for smaller care occupancies that have a limited number of occupants requiring care or treatment. In addition, depending on the nature of these clearly identified occupancies, the proposed changes introduce new construction, sprinklering, emergency power and fire alarm requirements

Spatial Separation between Buildings

Four sets of proposed changes have been developed to address the following issues: the relationship between fire service response time and limiting distance between buildings; cladding and sheathing materials used in wall construction; distribution of openings; and protection of soffits.

Fire Alarm Systems

Proposed changes relating to fire alarm systems are being introduced, which can be summarized as follows: requirements for smoke alarms in bedrooms; a common intelligibility scale of 0.70 for voice communication systems in buildings with over 1000 occupants; and the introduction of a temporal pattern for smoke alarms.

Exit Signs and Markings

Proposed requirements are being introduced for photoluminescent way-guidance systems in stairwells of buildings falling under Subsection 3.2.6. Current requirements regarding lettering for exit signs have been replaced with proposals for a green pictogram conforming to ISO standards.