Better Pork - June 2016

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COVERSTORY
paper prepared by the Manitoba Office
of the Fire Commissioner estimated the
provisions would add $2.80 to $4.80 per
square foot to construction costs.
Under the Ontario building code,
an industrial classification would mean
not only adding sprinkler systems but
also establishing a fire protection access
route and onsite water storage sufficient
to fight a fire.
Teron sits on the nine-member
Canadian Commission on Building and
Fire Codes’ joint task group. It spear-
heads the national code’s update, which
finally began this year. The commission
is the arm of the National Research
Council of Canada, which administers
the codes.
He says Ontario was preparing “to
go it alone” until the commission an-
nounced its plans to update the Na-
tional Farm Building Code and release
it in the 2020 cycle of national build-
ing codes. “My understanding now is
MMAH and OMAFRA (the municipal
affairs and housing and agriculture min-
istries) backed off a little bit when they
heard that there was some real momen-
According to the Ontario Ministry of
Agricuture, Food and Rural Affairs
2011 publication, Reducing the
Risk of Fire on Farm, heat lamps
should be used as depicted here in
the barn of John Van Engelen:
suspended using a non-combus-
tible material such as chain, no
knots in the plug connection that
might separate and well away from
combustible bedding or from
interference from animals. The
method of suspension here is
Van Engelen’s design.