Hog Watch Manitoba

PO Box 61082, Grant Park

Winnipeg, Manitoba R3M 3X8

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Barn building code changes under fire after blaze

Date

Manitoba Cooperator

Barn building code changes under fire after blaze

Hog Watch Manitoba is concerned that proposed building code changes will decrease fire safety; 
the province and pork industry don’t agree

By Alexis Stockford

Photo: Thinkstock

Published: June 23, 2017

 

Manitoba’s pork producers say building code changes recognize what barns are, rather than treating them as factories occupied by humans.

Manitoba Pork is standing by the province’s proposed building code changes, even as advocacy group Hog Watch Manitoba argues they might increase the risk of hog barn fires.

In January 2017, Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler announced plans to repeal the Farm Building Code and instead roll farm structures into the provincial building code.

The changes would create a “low-human occupancy” class, decrease firewall requirements in high-humidity environments where the building materials are likely to be be damaged and reduce “additional regulatory requirements for items like full fire alarm systems.”

Read the full article here.