The Ontario Fire Code lays out provincial law for adhering to fire safety standards. It provides measures for the fire safety or persons and buildings, including:
- The elimination or control of fire hazards in and around buildings.
- The maintenance of certain life safety systems in buildings.
- The establishment of a fire safety plan in certain buildings.
- The installation of smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms.
- And, of course, fire-rated doors and inspections.
So far in 2019, several amendments have been made to the Ontario Fire Code. We have compiled these changes here.
As of January 1, 2019:
The following amendments have been made to the Fire Code, beginning effective January 1, 2019:
- The phased compliance deadlines to the Fire Code requiring fire safety enhancements to care occupancies, care and treatment occupancies, and retirement homes regulated under the Retirement Homes Act, 2010 will be complete and sprinkler installation requirements come into force on January 1, 2019.
- To enhance public and firefighter safety additional inspection and testing requirements of fire department pumper connections on standpipe and hose systems will be required every five years when the fire department connection is older than 30 years.
As of March 14, 2019 and July 1, 2019:
More regulations came into effect as of March 14, 2019 and July 1, 2019:
- This regulation amends the 2007 Fire code (O. Reg. 213/07) by adding requirements for hazardous extraction operations, with a focus on cannabis extraction operations, and new notification requirements for out-of-service firefighters’ elevators. Also, various housekeeping changes to update and clarify existing requirements were made.
- Requirements for prohibited locations for hazardous extraction operations and housekeeping changes became effective on March 14, 2019. All other requirements come into force on July 1, 2019.
While fire-rated door inspections were not directly named in these amendments, it is still important to pay attention to these changes, and ones to come.
If you need a refresher on what is required for fire door safety in the Ontario Fire Code, read the full text here: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/070213.
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