2014 Newsletter Vol 1 - calsafe.comcalsafe.com/files/1614/3078/1911/2014_Vol1.pdf · A 2014-1...

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2014-1

CALSAFE

NEWS & NOTES

Craig Voelkert asked the CALSAFE board the other day if we were aware of “third party reporting” coming to Califor-nia? Well it just so happened that I had recently attended a meeting with the Merced Fire Department at which they an-nounced they were “partnering” with one of these third par-ty companies that we contractors would now be using to submit reports on the services we were providing. Craig

sent us a copy of his power point presentation that he made on the subject. As I looked through his presentation I found that the pro-gram as he described was basically what had been presented at the meeting. Here is the condensed version. These programs are being “sold” to the AHJ’s as a program that

will not cost the departments anything. The program is funded through “fees” collected from the con-

tractors who use the system to “report” their services. Use is mandatory and replaces the program of mailing in service

reports. The service contractor must now go online and “key in” infor-

mation regarding the service to include the pass/fail status as well as denoting any deficiencies or notes.

The AHJ’s are using this as a tracking of services performed in order to send out notices (and likely warnings) of delinquent ser-vices and requirements to correct deficiencies.

Many are starting with Sprinkler Systems, Alarm Systems and Kitchen Hood Systems but more than likely it will also include Engineered Suppression Systems.

(Continued on page 4)

Third Party Reporting Coming to California

Also In This Issue:

Bruce Carter ……..… pg 10

OSFM Update............. pg 5

President’s Message….. pg 2

Ryan Hoiland Article... pg 6

Word search………... pg 3

California Association of LifeSafety and Fire Equipment

1994-2014 CALSAFE is

Celebrating 20 years during 2014. Go to

page 8 to see an important

announcement!!!!!!!!!

Article By

Darrell Hefley

www.calsafe.com

The CALSAFE training videos on our website have been only accessible to members during 2013. In 2014 those have been made accessible to anyone as we promised the Office of the State Fire Marshal. Be sure to utilize these tools in your training program.

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W o r d Puzzle

The key appears on Page 6

Fill in the crossword

NAFED 2014 Sectional Conference

NAFED has posted their conference schedule. The Las Vegas Confer-ence will be held March 6-7 at the Monte Carlo. This program promis-es to be informational as well as providing networking opportunities on a national level. Go to NAFED’s website for more information and

registration instructions. www.nafed.org

Across 2. Melts 3. Sport 7. Sweetheart 8. Season 9. Logs 10. Roasting

Down 1. Organization 2. Falls 4. Outerwear 5. President 6. Done at year end

CALSAFE NEWS & NOTES

President’s Corner By Randy Dysart

Greeting CALSAFE Mem-bers,

It’s with great pleasure that I get to announce that CALSAFE IS 20 YEARS OLD THIS YEAR!

The Annual Meeting in Sacra-

mento was by all accounts a success, even though we were a little cramped. We want you to know, that the 20TH Annual Meeting in San Diego, on October 3rd and 4th, will be one you won’t forget! We have a few twists and surprises planned to help make this birthday celebration one that is truly special. We hope you will mark this on your calendar and come see what we have planned. Both you and your business will be better for it!

As I mentioned in the mem-bership renewal letter, “The California economic ride is show-ing some small signs of improve-ment, but our economic roller coaster is still running strong.”

Doesn’t this make it fun when you’re trying to set Budgets and trying to set plans for the next few years? Now let’s add “Drought” to the mix! With all that said, business within our great state just keeps on readjusting, rear-ranging, recalculating, rea-ligning and RE-succeeding. (Sorry) If you have been in business for more than ten years, you need to reach up and pat yourself on the back!

Do you have a success sto-ry for us? Do you have something you can share to help YOUR industry? What can you share that will bring more profession-alism to our Industry? Is there an “industry story” that will allow others not to make the same mistake? Share your story and CALSAFE will include it in our newsletter, web site and at the Annual Meeting. Do you have that ‘burning industry question’ that needs an answer? Have you used “Ask the Expert” on the CALSAFE Web

Presidents Message Site? This is a resource that CALSAFE encourages all members to use.

Speaking of the web site, you will notice a few changes. We have opened up the CALSAFE Training Program to non-members. This was done to enhance the quality of our in-dustry as a whole. The greater the knowledge of our industry peers, the better and more pro-fessional the industry becomes. Hopefully the non-members that use it will see the benefit that CALSAFE has to offer and join this great organiza-tion.

I want to share an experience I just had. As you all are aware, the section of Title 19 that pertains to Systems has been updated. I recently attended training in Woodland, CA, that was designed to update attendees on the changes to Title 19. It was an update on the California changes, as well as the additions to NFPA 25 that are now part of Title 19. The group was an excellent cross section of those involved in Fire Systems, Fire Service,


2010 4

The AHJ is “requiring” 100% participation, everyone performing Inspection Testing and Maintenance must sign up to use this service to be “authorized” to perform services in their jurisdiction. The online data entry, while present-ed as “minimal” will still be time consuming as you have to “re-enter” data into their data base. Some will have “on-line” forms or an option to upload a pdf file of the actual report, however that will not relieve you of keying in in-formation into their database so they can electronically process the infor-mation. The third party reporting concept is not new. Many of us have been dealing with third party reporting that customers use to collect everything from insur-ance compliance documentation to safety programs and statistics. They use the same “its not going to cost you anything” sales pitch to your customer. The next thing you know is that you are being charged a “vendor” fee or a per submittal fee to provide this documentation or “key information” into their data base to be in compliance and continue to perform work for your cus-tomer. Same concept, same result, more work for you, more cost for you and ultimately more cost for your customer or in this case the businesses in the jurisdiction that requires this. There is a great deal of concern over this trend. While it sounds like a “great idea” to collect this data electronically and save trees, the questions continu-ing to be asked “who owns the data”? How secure is the data? Can the third party “sell” or offer the data to whomever? You may be saying to yourself I am glad I am not in the systems business. Don’t be so quick to consider yourself immune. Who is to say they don’t see this as the greatest tool ever and begin requiring fire extinguisher annuals to be reported? CALSAFE will continue to monitor and inform you more on this in the future. If you have been notified that an AHJ in your area is entertaining or imple-menting this third party reporting, please pass on to us the information of how this is being implemented in your area so we can so inform our mem-bers. Send in the information to [email protected]

(Continued from page 1) Third Party Reporting


OFSM UPDATE

Automatic Systems Advisory Committee

NFPA25 TITLE19 UPDATE The NFPA25/Title 19 package will have ended its 45 day comment peri-od by the time you read this article. We have not heard of any substan-tial comments and it is anticipated that it will move on to OAL for the next part of the process. Barring any major kick backs from OAL it is anticipated that we could see this added to regulation sometime in March or April. Remember that this update not only carries the new Sprinkler requirements and forms, it also includes new mandated pre-engineered and engineered system forms. That will mean that anyone performing inspection, testing and maintenance on Hood systems, Paint both systems, Clean Agent Systems, etc. as well as sprinkler sys-tems, will have to use the new State mandated forms. The new chapter 12 was also added to this packages to put into regulations the compo-nents of the fine in lieu of suspension language. You can go to the web-site for more information on this package.

The next AES Advisory Committee Meeting is set for February 19th

Fire Extinguisher Advisory Committee

ENFORCEMENT PACKAGE UPDATE We are being told he enforcement package that contains the “no exchange” language will be sent out for public comment “shortly”. The NFPA25/Title19 package took priority and now that is on its way we should see this package going out for public comment soon. As soon as we hear of its posting we will let you know. Be sure to keep an eye on the website because just as soon as we have definitive information we will post the alert.

The next FE Advisory Committee Meeting has not yet been set

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On January 1, 2014 a suspected arsonist in a crowded Seattle nightclub poured gasoline on a car-peted staircase and set it ablaze. The attack came shortly after midnight dur-ing a popular New Year’s Eve celebration with about 750 people inside. You might assume this extreme-ly dangerous situation would have led to a terrible tragedy and made national headlines. It did not. Only recently was I advised of the incident when I read the following letter taken from the National Associa-tion of State Fire Marshal’s (NASFM) January newslet-ter: "The following is a let-ter sent by NASFM President J. William Degnan to State Fire Marshals in January 2014: "Given the recent nightclub fire in Seat-

tle, I thought it would be a good opportunity to revisit the issue of safety in public assem-blies and how we can achieve good results in our communities. It ap-pears that there were a number of positive is-sues that culminated in making an arson fire set in an occupied nightclub on New Year's Eve a non-event. "The nightclub was fair-ly crowded, but proba-bly within their occu-pant load; police re-ported that an arsonist poured gasoline on the exit stairs and set it on fire. News accounts state that staff and a patron used portable fire extinguishers on the fire with some suc-cess, and be-cause the club was sprinkled, that system also activated, keeping the fire in check. The entire crowd was able to exit the club un-harmed, and the fire

damage was minimized by the combined use of fire extinguishers with the sprinkler system. We should remember Wayne Powell's mantra: "Anything that gets wet will eventually dry out; something that burns will never unburn". Ad-equate exits, trained staff, portable extin-guishers and sprinklers all played important roles in this incident." It seems that the local me-dia alone covered the story of this fire. The few brief articles that I found while researching the incident mainly focused on the fact that it was a gay nightclub and that the arson attack was most likely a hate crime.

More importantly, of course, is that the presence of a balanced fire protec-


Disaster Averted! during Seattle NYE Celebration

by Ryan Hoiland Vice President of Orange County Fire Protection NAFED Region Six Director

thepresenceofabalanced ireprotection

planhelpedturnthispotentialtragedy

intowhatMr.Degnancallsa‘non‐event

2010 4

End Users and Industry. It was obvious from the be-ginning that ‘the code and regulations are open for interpretation’. Many times the interests of the Fire Service, Industry and End User’s collided. While we did not, nor was this the forum to, solve the differ-ences, we left with a better understanding of each oth-er and determined that the Code is NOT as clear cut

(Continued from page 3) President’s Message

and black and white as we would like to think. It was a GREAT experience! I believe that this is the very essence of “Balanced Fire Protection”. As a good friend often says, “Communication, Commu-nication and COMMUNI-CATION”! The more we work with those in the oth-er aspects of our business, the better we will all be at achieving our goals, sup-porting Fire Prevention

and Protection and making a living.

Wishing you all good health and good fortune in 2014!

Randy

tion plan helped turn this potential tragedy into what Mr. Degnan calls a ‘non-event.’ Needless to say I was quite pleased to read this letter and learn of an-

(Continued from page 6) Disaster Averted!

other fire protection suc-cess story – a terrific re-minder of the importance of our industry. I encourage you to share the letter with your em-ployees as I have. We

should be proud of the work that we do. Ryan

Across

2. melts ‐ snow 3. sport ‐ skiing 7. sweetheart ‐ valen ne 8. season ‐ winter 9. logs ‐ fireplace 10. roasting - chestnuts

Down

1. organiza on ‐‐ CALSAFE 2 fall ‐‐ snow 4. outerwear ‐ jacket 5. president ‐ Lincoln 6. done at year end ‐ resolu on

ANSWERS TO WORD PUZZLE ON PAGE 3


MARK YOUR CALANDERS MARK YOUR CALANDERS

!! NOW !!!! NOW !!


OCTOBER

333 OCTOBER 444

COME TO SAN DIEGO AND HELP US CELEBRATE

CALSAFE’S 20 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

2010 4

Courtyard by Marriott San Diego

Liberty Station

CALSAFE

2014

Annual Meeting

October 3rd & 4th

CALSAFE Announc-es that Its Annual Meeting will be held on October 3rd and 4th. This will be a special event in order to commemorate our 20 year anniversary. Although it may be hard to believe CALSAFE had it’s beginning in 1994 and has been going strong ever since. Don’t miss out on this extraordinary event to be held at

the fabulous Court-yard by Marriot/Liberty Station. This year’s golf outing will be at the beautiful Eastwood Lake Country Club. This year promises to be a great program that you will want to at-tend and will include special events and ac-tivities. You don’t want to miss this one! Mark your calendar and watch for more information.

Did you see this information?

In-between Newsletters, keep informed visit the website for late breaking

news, resources and Alerts.

Visit www.calsafe.com often


My goodness how time flies! It seems like just yesterday – but it wasn’t yesterday – it was fifteen years ago! Fifteen years ago, my son Kris was sixteen years old and at the age when he needed “stuff”. You know, stuff like: cool clothes, sporting goods, a car, gasoline for the car, spending money etc. etc. etc. Well, money for “stuff” was never simply handed to me by my

father so I figured that I would make my son work for his “stuff money” as my father made me work for mine at his age. At the time, about the only place that would hire sixteen year old kids with zero work experience was Chick-fil- A restaurants. Kris applied, was interviewed and hired. Life was good!

Prior to his first day on the job at Chick-fil-A, Kris came to me for some fa-

therly advice. “Dad, I am starting-out making just minimum wage. What do you think I can do to make more money on my new job?” I explained to my son that getting a raise was actually a pretty simply procedure – not easy necessarily – but simple. I told him that if he starts-out earning four dollars and hour, he will never really deserve any kind of a pay raise until he gives his boss more than four dollars an hour in productivity. It’s

simple, Kris,”… if you do more than you are paid to do, the day will come when you are paid more for what you do . . .” Pretty good fatherly advice I thought!

The same is true in the fire protection business. So many times when I get out in the field and conduct ride-along training with sales and service technicians, they ask me how they should go about making more money. My answer is very similar to the answer I gave my son years ago: do exactly the things your boss asks you to do . . . and then some. For example:

KEEP YOUR SERVICE VEHICLE NEAT, CLEAN AND ORGANIZED Your em-ployer has made a sizable investment in the service vehicle you are driving. Treat it as though it was your very own. Keep your truck neat and clean both up in the cab area as well as in the back. If you work out of a mobile recharging vehicle, sweep the floor out after every stop. Keep your stock neatly stacked on the shelves. Clean-up the dry chemical mess after recharging extinguishers. Keep your small parts (pull pins, valve stems, o-rings, signs and tools) neatly orga-nized and in their place. Keep your vehicle in apple-pie order and not only will the boss notice, he will pay you for your extra efforts.

HONE THOSE SELLING SKILLS One of the best ways to get the boss’ atten-tion (and a raise in the process) is to be that sales and service rep who is consistently “hitting the numbers”. The best way to ensure you are achieving your monthly sales/service production goals is to become excellent at selling that new equipment. Let’s face it - you can’t “create” service work in a given account. Either the work is there or it is not. The way you can mine additional dollars from a service account however, is to sell additional fire equipment. It is the sale of extinguishers, hoses, covers, cabinets, signs, breaker bars, exit and emergency lighting components and other miscellaneous equipment that will easily turn those

HOW TO GET A RAISE IN THE FIRE PROTECTION BUSINESS

by Bruce Carter

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

two hundred dollar invoices into five hundred dollar invoices. Consistently “hit the numbers” and the boss will compensate you accordingly.

GENERATE NEW BUSINESS Every year dozens of fire equipment companies hire me

to come into their organization and teach a seminar entitled, EVEN COWARDS CAN COLD CALL! This program teaches sales and service people the art of looking-for and land-ing new service accounts. Although virtually anyone can master the skill of cold calling and landing new business, only a small percentage of service technicians will actually do it. If you will be that service technician who will make the cold calls and help the boss to build the busi-ness, that raise you are looking for cannot be far away!

ATTITUDE, ATTITUDE, ATTITUDE ! According to a study conducted at Harvard University not long ago, 85% of our success on the job is directly attributed to our attitude on the job! Attitude is defined as “a manner of acting, feeling or thinking that shows our mood, disposition, opinion or mental state”. In other words our attitude is an external indica-tion of an internal condition.

Our attitude is “shown” to the outside word (including our boss) in many ways. Our appear-ance, manners, level of enthusiasm, verbal expression and general co-operative spirit is a meas-urable indication of our attitude – either positive or negative. Want to get the bosses atten-tion and get yourself in line for a nice promotion and/or raise? Work on developing a posi-tive / team-oriented attitude on the job every day.

In these challenging economic times, employees should only expect additional compensation if they have actually done something to earn it. The advice I gave to my son many years ago and continue to share with eager fire protection professions these days is basically the same. Look for things to get into on the job – not for things to get out of. Do more than you are paid to do and the day will come when you are paid more for what you do!

In these challenging economic times, employees should only expect additional compensation if they have actually done something to earn it. The advice I gave to my son many years ago and continue to share with eager fire protection professions these days is basically the same. Look for things to get into on the job – not for things to get out of. Do more than you are paid to do and the day will come when you are paid more for what you do!

Bruce Carter is the president of North American Fire Sales a training organization specializing exclusively in the fire and life safety industry offering:

In-house sales and customer service training seminars. In-The-Field technician and sales rep training. Association and corporate Keynote presentations Fire protection business consulting www.nafiresales.com


How to reach your local Board Member OFFICERS

PRESIDENT

Randy Dysart [email protected]

Jorgensen Co.

Rancho Cordova, CA

(916) 852-4130

SECRETARY

Edie Wade [email protected]

Brooks Equipment Company

Hampton, GA (626) 827-2872

VICE PRESIDENT (PAST PRESIDENT)/TREASURER

Darrell Hefley [email protected]

Jorgensen Co.

Fresno, CA

(559) 268-6241

VICE PRESIDENT (PAST PRESIDENT)

Chris Hoiland [email protected]

Orange County Fire Protection

Orange, CA

(714) 974-9025 VICE PRESIDENT (PAST PRESIDENT)

Mike Brand [email protected]

Brandco

Bakersfield, CA

(661) 322-6001

GENERAL BOARD MEMBERS

NORTHERN DIRECTOR Kim Golding [email protected] Arrow Fire Protection Co. Fremont, CA (510) 791-1113

CENTRAL DIRECTOR Paul Cogburn [email protected]

Fireguard Extinguisher Services, Inc. San Jose, CA (408) 286-5914 SOUTHERN DIRECTOR

Allen Quirk [email protected] Paraclete Fire Safety Brea, CA (714) 577-5779

DIRECTOR AT LARGE Michael Reeser [email protected] Santa Rosa Fire Santa Rosa, CA (707) 546-0797

DIRECTOR AT LARGE Scott Marx [email protected] Marx Bros. Fire Extinguisher Co. Los Angeles, CA (313) 267-6954

BOARD ADVISORS

Neville Throckmorton Firecode Safety Equip.

Dave Duea Fire Etc

Frank Gardner Stanford University

We’re on the Web!

http://www.CALSAFE.com

2014 Newsletter Vol 1 - calsafe.comcalsafe.com/files/1614/3078/1911/2014_Vol1.pdf · A 2014-1...

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