April 26, 2019

Robbin Foxcroft opened the meeting at 10:04 am, and stated we would follow the agenda as distributed. Noted form Kevin Stanger, the agenda is to be distributed 21 days prior to meeting date.

Minutes: The minutes of April were distributed by the secretary Robbin Foxcroft on the AFSA website and in email form. Randy moved that we dispense with the reading and adopt them with edits made by Kevin Stanger. John Schmidt moved and Bastien Morin seconded the minutes be approved as read. Motion carried.

Treasurers Report: Bank account as of April 23 is $10, 995.50. All bills and accounts are paid and up to date.

New Business:

• -  From previous minutes: Pat Purnell is to send a link to Intertek website for the Alberta certified shops to list on the website. Kevin

  Stanger to send OHS Alberta information and links for a brief presentation for next meeting.

• -  From meeting agenda: New Portables Committee Chair – Wayne Backiney has volunteered, and was accepted as the new Portables

  Committee Chair Person

• -  Randy Brown suggested we look at new volunteers for Committee Chair Persons due to lack of attendance for Fire Alarm and Exhaust

  Cleaning. To be discussed via email to current chairs and determined by next meeting.

• -  Kurt Bertrand has notified AFSA that he is unable to continue as 1st Vice President due to work commitments; therefore a new 1st

  Vice President is to be appointed. John Schmidt has volunteered, and was accepted.

• -  New National Building Code 2019 – Alberta Edition and National Fire Code 2019 – Alberta Edition came into effect on April 1, 2019.

  National Resource Council will be publishing and release free versions sometime in the spring. No date given. These codes will not be enforced until the publications are released. Update: As of April 30, 2019 the codes are now available for download. The link has been posted to the AFSA website.

• -  OHS Alberta referenced documents or information materials are available on the OHS website. https://www.alberta.ca/ohs-act- regulation-code.aspx/

• -  In camera discussion held regarding Provincial Certifications and certifying bodies.

• -  June Morin asked what recourse building owners have to recoup costs billed from fraudulent work being done by previous companies.

  A long discussion ensued suggesting the Local Authorities involvement, and Alberta Municipal Affairs penalties, and building owners

  taking the previous service companies to small claims court.

• -  ASFA is to add a Complaint Form to the website which was previously removed. The complaint form will be used for service

  companies identifying unsafe and code violations in building and by other service companies. To be submitted to Authorities for action.

Action Items From Previous Meetings:

• -  10.13.14.3 – TC requirements for Amerex cylinders. Ron Foxcroft to update next meeting (not in attendance).

• -  01.26.1.1 – Training videos for inspectors and SCO’s to be developed and added to the AFSA website. No progress made. To be left

  on Action Item list for Robbin.

• -  04.20.18.1 – Motion to submit change to NFP A regarding ‘inspection’ on new fire extinguishers in NFP A 10. - Darrell Shermak is

  moving forward with this. Darrell has been unable to look into this due to time restraints; Robbin will take this item over.

• -  04.26.19.1 – Complaint form to be added to AFSA website.

  Committee Reports:

1. Portables: (New chair to be appointed): No update at this meeting.

2. Fixed Systems: (Ron Foxcroft): Ron Foxcroft was unable to attend, no updates at this time.

3. Fire Alarms: (John Wingert): John Wingert was unable to attend. Marc Chayer requested a discussion regarding the CFAA training and

   certification process. The CFAA stated 1500 hours of supervised field training was required by a student in order to obtain CFAA certification in addition to the 5 courses. Marc’s question; how does a student get 1500 hours of training if there is no certified Fire Alarm technician to train with? This makes it very difficult for companies to become certified for fire alarm systems. Sid Johma advised that the CFAA has changed this policy, and the 1500 hours is no longer required. Students are now required to successfully complete the 5 courses, a theoretical exam and a practical exam in order to obtain CFAA certification.

4. Canopy Cleaning: (Shelby VanGroothest): Shelby was unable to attend. Joseph had no comments at this time.

5. Fire Sub Council: (Robbin Foxcroft): Due to the Provincial election, the last Fire Sub Council meeting was very brief. No government

   employees were able to attend. The Qualified Persons Registry has been moved to James Orr, and will continue to move forward through the Safety Codes Council. There have been no updates. It was suggested that the Registry be put back onto the AFSA website until Safety Codes Council moves forward. Robbin suggested that this would be a good idea, however to rebuild the database is a large project, and she wouldn’t be able to complete it on her own due to time restraints. Questions posed by Robbin in considering this project: Would the AFSA still offer and issue the ID cards? If so, we would need a new company to produce the ID cards. Would the ID cards still require a photo of the technician? Randy was investigating if the old database was saved prior to the new website being created. Action item 04.26.19.2

6. Fire Administrator’s Office: (Mike Baker): No one from Fire Administrators Office was able to attend due to Provincial elections.

7. Sister Associations:

   1. CFAA – Technical seminar was a great success. There were approximately 170 people in attendance. We have been informed that CFAA new letters can be posted to the AFSA website for access by all.

   2. Fire Inspectors Group – Sandy MacKenzie advised that they are looking at amalgamating with BC & AB Fire Inspectors (and possibly Sask.). They are required to give a presentation to the International with a 1 year waiting period to be acknowledged by NFP A.

Membership: Reese Safety Services

Round Table:

Jerry Poon: Edmonton 311 reporting is not effective to have deficiencies corrected. Sandy MacKenzie suggested contacting local authority and/or Fire Marshal

Buildings are requesting to do monthly fire drills on their own and asking for fire panel instructions. We were informed that building staff should not be trained to do any procedures or work on their own panels at all.

A building sprinkler system froze; staff was advised to put the building on fire-watch. Staff said that fire-watch was not required with operational fire alarm system. Is this correct? Group opinion was that the final word is up to the AHJ, but fire-watch is required when any building system is not functional; therefore yes, they should be put on fire-watch.

Next Meeting: Tentatively Scheduled for October 4th at 10:00 am at the Black Knight Inn, Red Deer, AB confirmation has been received. As this concluded the business on hand, the meeting was adjourned at 12:15 pm.