Technical Subcommittees Meet For Super Subcom

Last month, four technical subcommittees, electrical, plumbing, heating, and fire and life safety, had nearly 60 RV-OEM, suppliers and listing agencies in attendance at the Standards Technical Super Subcom meeting in Elkhart, Ind., at the Center Six One Five.

Each respective chairman and subcommittee member had a robust discussion to address code proposals and enforcement concerns underscored by potential handbook updates. They also reviewed the action taken by the NFPA Technical Committee on the first draft of the 2021 editions of the NFPA 1192 and 1194 standards, as the committee is responsible for overseeing revisions to these standards.

Attendees also reviewed the code change proposals for the 2020 edition of ANSI A119.5 Park Model RV Standard and the 2021 edition of the ANSI Low Voltage standard. Other key technical issues were also addressed such as RV and PMRV Handbook updates, and the solar and lithium technology recommendations.

These technical meetings involved a tremendous amount of preparation to which members were provided the agenda weeks in advance in order to study and prepare, as well as ready themselves to vote on each item.

These types of meetings are a great educational opportunity for each member to not only learn more about all the standards requirements, but also the respective enforcement positions that are established and allow the industry to remain consistent in compliance. Each member brings a unique level of expertise ranging from engineers to quality control that combine with the knowledge base of other members and assures that we consider all options when establishing these critical safety positions.

As with all technical meetings conducted by this group, any and all recommendations that are drafted are subject to approval by the RV Industry Association’s Standards Steering Committee (SSC). This provides a final check and balance from individuals who are typically above the engineering level before these critical standards positions are published and enforced by RV Industry Association inspectors during regularly scheduled inspections at manufacturing production line facilities.

The meetings proved to be extremely productive as the technical recommendations regarding handbook updates and code changes were approved and will be forwarded to the SSC in June of this year during RVs Move America Week.