The proposed changes to the 2016 edition of NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems, were published after the Tech Session at the 2015 NFPA Conference & Expo at the McCormick Place in Chicago. Major changes adopted included extensive revisions to the commodity classification tables, the first in two decades. For the first time in NFPA 13’s history protection schemes for Group A exposed expanded plastics stored in racks were added.

These new ESFR protection schemes were based on the conclusions drawn from NFPA’s latest results of firing testing for these types of commodities. The standard also includes new requirements in addressing popular trends in building design features, such as cloud ceilings.

Matt Klaus, principal fire protection engineer and liaison to the NFPA 13 technical committees, shortly before the final vote on the proposed changes¹:

Of the biggest-picture changes we made, a lot of them focused on storage applications. Warehousing and distribution have become a huge deal.

He gives a quick review of five changes to the 2016 edition of NFPA 13 in this video².

The NFPA Journal published a review of the changes to NFPA 13 2016.

How to get free access to the NFPA 13 2016 Edition.

References

[1] “Big + Bigger”, Jesse Roman, NFPA Journal, June 2015, www.nfpa.org
[2] “A review of upcoming changes to the 2016 edition of NFPA 13”, June 2015,
      nfpatoday.blog.nfpa.org