Codes + Regulations

Question 1

Areas Not Required to be Accessible

Answer 1

• Temporary construction facilities (e.g. Job shacks, scaffolding, trailers)
• Raised areas used for security/life safety (e.g. Security or life guard towers)
• Non-occupiable service areas accessed infrequently for maintenance (e.g. Mechanical
rooms, penthouses)
• Tollbooths
• Water slides
• Non-public animal containment areas
• Raised boxes and wrestling rings
• Raised structures for officiating/announcing sports events

Question 2

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Answer 2

prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, transportation, public accommodation, communications, and governmental activities. The ADA also establishes requirements for telecommunications relay services.

Question 3

Fair Housing Act

Answer 3

law that prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of race, color,
religion, sex, disability, familial status, and national origin.

Question 4

Wheelchair Passage Width

Answer 4

32” clear at a point/36” clear continuous

Question 5

2 Wheelchair Passing Width

Answer 5

60” Clear Minimum

Question 6

Headroom

Answer 6

80” Clear Minimum

Question 7

Building Officials and Code Administrators

Answer 7

1st major model-code group
BOCA
Founded in 1915
Country Club Hills, Illinois
Published 'National Building Code' in 1950

Question 8

International Conference of Building Officials

Answer 8

2nd major model-code group
ICBO
Formed in 1922
Whittier, California
Published 'Uniform Building Code' in 1927

Question 9

Uniform Building Code

Answer 9

Published in 1927 by the International Conference of Building Officials (ICBO)
Primarily applied west of the Mississippi River and was the most widely applied of the model codes.

Question 10

Southern Building Code

Answer 10

Published in 1946 by the Southern Building Code Congress

Primarily used in the southeast.

Question 11

National Building Code

Answer 11

Published 1950 by the Building Officials and Code Administrators (BOCA)
Primarily used in the north-central and northeastern states.

Question 12

Southern Building Code Congress

Answer 12

Founded 1946
Birmingham, Alabama
Published ‘Southern Building Code’ in 1946

Question 13

The International Building Code

Answer 13

Developed from the three original model-codes (UBC, NBC, and SBC) First published in 2000

Question 14

The International Code Council

Answer 14

Founded in 1994
Formed by representatives of the three model-code groups
Headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Question 15

IBC
IRC
IEBC

Answer 15

International Building Code
International Residential Code
International Existing Building Code

Question 16

Americans with Disabilities Act

Answer 16

(ADA) of 1900
Federal civil rights legislation requiring that buildings be made accessible to persons with physical disabilities and certain defined mental disabilities.

Question 17

The ADA Accessibility Guidelines

Answer 17

(ADAAG)
Administered by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (AATBCB), and the regulations are administered by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Question 18

ADA Enforcement

Answer 18

Enforce by legal action, through the courts. Not subject to interpretation by local building officials.

Question 19

Disabilities

Answer 19

Mobility Impairments
Cognitive Impairments
Hearing Impairments
Vision Impairments
Speech Impairments
Persons of Short Stature

Question 20

ADA for Existing Buildings

Answer 20

Requires that barriers to access be removed from existing buildings where such work is readily achievable (economic issue).

Question 21

Federal Fair Housing Act

Answer 21

FFHA of 1988
Includes Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations requiring all residential complexes of four or more dwelling units constructed after March 13, 1991, to be adaptable for use by persons with disabilities.

Question 22

Building Code vs. Building Standard

Answer 22

Building Code (what you must do) establishes a jurisdictional "floor" relative to occupants' health, safety, and welfare.
Building Standard (how you do it) is a "standard practice" often referred to within the Building Code.  

Example of Building Standards: NFPA 13, Life Safety Code (NFPA-101), Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems (NFPA-13), National Fire Electric Code (NFPA-70.

Question 23

NFPA 5000

Answer 23

National Fire Protection Association’s new model building code

Question 24

Authorities Having Jurisdictnio

Answer 24

AHJ

Catch-all phrase for all planning, zoning, fire, and building officials having something to say about the building.

Question 25

Fire Codes

Answer 25

Typically considered maintenance codes intended to provide for public health and safety in the day-to-day operation of a structure. Also meant to assure that building life-safety systems remain operational in case of emergency.

Question 26

Legal Basis for Codes

Answer 26

The model codes have no force of law unto themselves. Only after adoption by a governmental agency are they enforceable under police powers of the state.

Question 27

Standard of Care

Answer 27

Legal term defining the level of quality of service that a practitioner is expected to meet. Because professional work involves judgement, perfection is not expected of a design professional. The standard of care is defined for an individual designer as being those actions that any other well-informed practitioner would have taken given the same level of knowledge in the same situation. It is a relative measure, not an absolute one.

Question 28

Performance vs. Prescriptive Codes

Answer 28

The ICC International Performance Code presents regulations based on desired outcomes rather than prescriptions. It encourages new design methods by allowing a broader parameter for meeting the intent of the International Codes.

Question 29

ICC-ES

Answer 29

International Code Council Evaluation Service is a nonprofit, limited liability company that does technical evaluations of building products, components, methods, and materials. Product information and test reports are reviewed by the ICC-ES technical staff for code compliance.