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Due to overwhelming demand and sold-out classes, the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) has added one class to its Beginning Fire Sprinkler System Planning School: November 2-13, 2015. Only two other 2015 classes were available as of press time: July 20-31 and September 14-25. All schools are held at AFSA’s …

Benefits are Many If you are not taking advantage of a registered apprenticeship program, it is probably because you have heard the common narratives that discourage pursuing registering a program: “It’s too complicated,” or “I don’t have enough people to warrant a program,” or “The record-keeping is too cumbersome.” There …

AFSA Members Sweep ABC Contest A field of 187 craft trainees competed for top honors in 15 contests representing 12 crafts during the 2015 Associated Builders & Contractors’ (ABC) National Craft Championships (NCC). The event took place during the association’s Workforce Development Conference, March 3-6, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Competitors …

How to Get Them Before They Get You! I had a great dream the other night. We had just completed a flawless installation. We had coordinated every detail with the design team up front. The MEP foremen had worked with us every step of the way. The architectural and structural …

Control of Fires Lurking in the Shadows It seems that, in this era of designing everything to the exact inch and psi, we may be losing track of what the real objective that NFPA 13, Standard for Installation of Sprinkler Systems, is trying to accomplish. The technology of our industry …

Some Parts are Missing The 2010 edition of NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems, introduced a new definition “Control Mode Specific Application (CMSA) Sprinklers.” This was a composite of the earlier definitions that included Large Drop Sprinklers, Special Sprinklers, and Specific Application Control Mode Sprinklers. The Section …