Revisions Standard for Ovens and Furnaces approved by NFPA
Bakers who are looking to buy a new oven or modify, expand or refurbish an existing one face new process restrictions because of recent revisions to the Standard for Ovens and Furnaces approved by the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA).
The American Society of Baking (ASB) is urging the baking industry to send a letter to the NFPA to support a temporary interim amendment (TIA 1439) to prompt the NFPA 86 Technical Committee to reexamine the revised regulations, specifically as to how they impact the baking industry’s safety journey. The deadline for sending a letter to the NFPA is May 8, 2019.
Updates to the NFPA 86 Standard for 2019 apply new safety regulations that will require each burner in the system longer than 3 feet to have flame detection at the furthest end of the burner from the point of ignition. Bakeries would need to add far side burner flame detection to all new ovens or on any major oven burner rebuild.
The NFPA-86-2019 revision presents several requirements that are highly burdensome to the baking industry. A typical baking oven can have anywhere from 75 to 300 burners depending on the products being baked, desired throughput, etc. The 2019 revision will significantly increase the complexity of new and rebuilt oven systems and push the costs to prohibitive levels. This will have a dramatic impact on the cost of bread production…a basic dietary staple.
The 2019 revision will inhibit the rebuilding of existing ovens that should be made more up-to-date.Safety is always the prime concern when designing, rebuilding, and installing ovens; however, the 2019 revisions do not increase the safety of ovens but rather only drive up the cost and complexity.
Although older ovens are grandfathered from enforcing the regulation, the revised NFPA 86 Standard for 2019 impacts any new, modified or future refurbishment of an oven. ASB is calling on bakers and suppliers of ovens to the US baking industry to send in a letter supporting the TIA.
For bakers, ASB is calling for them to send in a letter stating that they be allowed to expand their operations with new more efficient and safe equipment without the complexities and restrictions in the current NFPA 86 2019 revision. Attached are two sample letter templates for bakers and oven suppliers to use.
Public comments should be addressed to Secretary of the Standards Councilusing the following e-mail address ;TIAs_Errata_FIs@nfpa.org. For more technical information and sample letters, ASB recommends that bakers and equipment manufacturers contact the society at www.asbe.orgor visit NFPA’s site at www.nfpa.org/86.
