Florida Building Commission

Florida Building Commission

Product Approval/Manufactured Buildings

Program Oversight Committee (POC)

Minutes

March 28, 2011

2:30 P.M.

Webinar

2555 Shumard Oak Boulevard, Room 220N

Tallahassee, FL 32305

Product Approval Program Oversight Committee members present: Ed Carson, Chair, Herminio Gonzalez, Tim Tolbert, Jeffrey Stone, and Nicholas Nicholson

Absent: Chris Schulte, John Sherer.

DCA and Commission Staff attending included: Ila Jones, Mo Madani, Suzanne Davis, Joe Bigelow, Jeff Blair, and Ted Berman.

1. The Meeting was called to order at 2:30 P.M. by Chairman, Ed Carson. The agenda was approved. The January 2011 Minutes were approved as amended to correct a typo for item 2B change FL13663 to 13363.

2. Product Approval Program issues

A. Staff presented the Product Approval Entities and Statistics Report (2/28/2011).

B. Product Approval Administrator’s Survey – staff reported that the overall rating for this cycle was good to excellent with one exception that was explained in detail by Ted Berman.

3. Discussion Items:

A. Shutter Issue Update: There were two items reported by Ted; 1) Was a discussion item that is on the Product Approval Report, and 2) Was an application that was withdrawn by the applicant. This issue appears to be resolved.

B. FL8809 Update: The POC recommended at the January 2011 meeting that a letter be drafted to the validation entity to address the evaluation error and a review of the evaluation report be conducted by the Structural TAC. After further investigation and based on the recommendation of the Structural TAC, it was discovered that this product is considered to be an alternate method and is outside the scope of the Product Approval Program. Staff recommended that no further action be taken.

C. Report on Common Validator Mistakes: Ted Berman reported that they have narrowed the most common mistakes down to six:

1. Testing standards do not correspond with the Florida Building Code.

2. Completeness of the reports.

3. Design Pressure versus product size.

4. Validated with an expired Quality Assurance Expiration Date.

5. Certificate of Independence is not applicable to the entity listed on the application.

6. Validation of products that fall outside the scope of the rule (i.e. products evaluated using the alternate material and methods)

Ted Berman will be spending time on these issues at the next training session. Staff requested that Ted Berman produce a statistical report on the frequency of mistakes made by the same validators and possibly concentrate on those that are recurring problems.

D. Revocations Recommended for Expired Certificate/Non-Compliance: At the February 2011 Commission meeting, the Commission requested that the applicant upload a new certificate, which includes testing standard TAS 202. To date, the applicant fails to respond to the Commission’s request and for that the POC recommended the revocation process for this application.

E. Rule 9N-3 Update: Staff updated the POC on the status of the rule. The Governor’s office has not released Rule 9N-3 as of this meeting. The rule has not been ratified and is still on hold.

F. Product Approval Proposed Enhancements: Staff presented the POC with a Power Point Presentation of enhancements targeting the Entity and Manufacturer sections of the Product Approval Module. Discussion took place regarding the strategy for getting the projects done how the staff planned on working with those involved. It was decided that staff would prioritize the enhancements and bring those details to the POC at a later date.

G. Inform Manufacturers of the Updates to the FBC “2010 Update” and the Need to Review their Approved Applications in Anticipation of the 2010 Florida Building Code: Staff reported that once the final draft is released, DCA will then let the manufacturers know that they have the option to affirm or revise their applications for compliance with the 2010 Code. It is anticipated that this will happen sometime in early June 2011.

H. Report on the Validation Training of Feb. 7^th and the Plan for the Second Validation Training: The second training session for Validators will be held on May 12 at 2:00 PM and will be held by Webinar. Staff discussed addressing the issues one-on-one with each of the validators seem to repeat the same mistakes.

I. Misuse of Product Approval: The issue of product evaluations and installation instructions being used inside and outside of the product approval’s limits of use was discussed and it was determined that staff will consult with Legal regarding the need to provide a written response on the subject to Mr. Schaefer. Staff will work closely on this issue with the Chair.

4. Ted Berman & Associates Report – Products and entities were reviewed and approved

recommendations were provided. DCA approved products were made available on the agenda as required by rule and no comment was raised at the meeting regarding those products.

5. Adjourn – Meeting adjourned at 3:47 P.M.

Actions Needed by the Commission:

1. Ted Berman and Associates report – Products and entities were reviewed and approved. Recommendations were provided.

POC Action: The Committee recommends the products and entities listed in the Administrator’s report be approved, deferred, conditionally approved or denied as per voted on by the Committee.