Title 23, Title 23 and Safety

This act shall be known and may be cited as “The Comprehensive Fire Safety Act of 2003”.

The general assembly finds and declares that: (1) Fires are a significant and preventable cause of the loss of life in the state; (2) Catastrophic fires, while rare, have happened in the state with tragic loss of life; (3) Fire safety and building codes can provide standards that…

The purposes of this act are to make Rhode Island the safest state in the nation in terms of fire safety, to provide for the adoption and implementation of an up-to-date comprehensive system of codes for fire safety and to foster a culture of compliance with standards for fire sa…

The powers necessary to implement the provisions of this act shall be vested in the fire marshal, as provided for in chapter 28.2 of this title as amended, who shall have, except as specifically provided otherwise in this title, all of the powers of the authority having jurisdict…

(a) The system of fire safety codes, compliance, enforcement, and education, shall be regularly reviewed in order to maintain the use of best practices throughout Rhode Island and to plan for and implement professional, comprehensive, efficient and effective fire safety measures …

(a) The fire marshal and the state building commissioner shall jointly advise by July 1, 2004, the joint committee on the rehabilitation building code for existing buildings and structures, established by chapter 29.1 of this title, with regard to any conflicts between fire safet…

The state fire marshal is hereby authorized and directed to promulgate reasonable rules and regulations governing the possession, sale wholesale and retail, and use of display fireworks and aerial consumer fireworks and pyrotechnics in the state.

(a) All storage, handling, transportation and display of fireworks shall be in accordance with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard 1123 entitled “Code for Fireworks Display” 2006 Edition, and NFPA Standard 1124 entitled “Code for the Manufacture, Transportati…

(a) Every person desiring to obtain a certificate of competency to possess and display display fireworks and aerial consumer fireworks and/or pyrotechnics shall make application to the state fire marshal. A fee of ten dollars ($10.00) shall accompany each application and shall be…

Every certificate issued shall be valid for one year, and shall be renewable without examination, except as herein provided, on March first after the original date of issue upon payment of fifty dollars ($50.00). Any holder of a certificate whose certificate was lost, misplaced, …

The state fire marshal is empowered to deny an examination to any applicant who has been convicted of a common law crime, statutory burning, the violation of any explosive or fireworks or pyrotechnics law or rule or regulation, or who falsely completes an application. The fire ma…

No permit shall be issued to any applicant desiring to possess and display display fireworks and aerial consumer fireworks and/or pyrotechnics until the applicant furnishes to the local fire authority satisfactory proof of financial responsibility in an amount not less than one m…

No permit shall be issued under the provisions of this chapter to a nonresident person to conduct a display fireworks and aerial consumer fireworks and/or pyrotechnics display in this state, until that person shall have appointed in writing a member of the Rhode Island bar associ…

(a) Any person found to be in violation of the provisions of this chapter relating to possession of display fireworks and aerial consumer fireworks or pyrotechnics shall be fined not less than one hundred ($100) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500) or imprisoned for not more…

(a) It shall be the duty of the principal or other person in charge of every public school or private school, college, university, or postsecondary institution or educational institution within the state, having more than twenty-five (25) pupils, to instruct and train the pupils …

(a) It shall be the duty of the principal or other person in charge of every public school or private school, college, university, or postsecondary institutions or educational institution within the state, having more than twenty-five (25) pupils, to instruct and train the pupils…

Sections 23-28.13-27 — 23-28.13-33 pertain to homes for the boarding of children and family day care homes licensed by the state department of children, youth, and families.

(a) Each story of every home used for the boarding of children shall have at least two (2) means of egress. Exits shall be located remotely from each other providing the best practicable means of egress for all occupants in the event fire renders one exit impassable. (b) Homes no…

(a) The use of basements shall not be allowed for sleeping quarters. (b) Levels below ground, not considered as a basement as defined in this code, and levels on grade with sleeping quarters with a central heating unit contained therein shall be segregated by partitions and doors…

The number of children housed in each sleeping room and compartment shall not exceed the rate of fifty square feet (50 sq. ft.) for a child in a junior size bed and/or one infant in a bassinet for each twenty-four square feet (24 sq. ft.). The total occupancy determined in this m…

(a) All electrical wiring shall be in accordance with the national electrical code and shall comply in every respect with accepted standards. (b) The use of electrical extension cords for all appliances shall not be allowed.

Oil and gas burners shall be equipped with proper devices for automatic lighting, controls for oil or gas flow temperatures, and other proper safety devices. Oil and gas burners also shall be installed with an auxiliary switch wired to position in location providing operation rem…

(a) Exterior walls of frame construction and interior stud partitions shall be fire-stopped by a two inch (2") thick timber or plate or masonry filling, completely closing any possible vertical opening at the ceiling of the basement. (b) In existing buildings, exterior walls of f…

(a) All homes for the boarding of children and other occupancies within buildings containing homes for boarding children shall be kept clean and in a tidy condition, and free from the accumulation of combustible debris or other waste material. (b) All corridors, passageways, stai…

(a) All group care residential units in which a child is placed by the department of children, youth, and families or by any private agency, society, or institution licensed to place children shall be equipped with a hard wire smoke detector system in accordance with the regulati…

(a) Every operator or employee of a child day care center, prior to releasing physical custody of any child to any person, shall first insure that the person to whom physical custody is released is a proper person for the child’s custody. (b) A proper person for the child’s custo…

All day care centers shall require that at least fifty percent (50%) of their personnel have current certifications in the life-saving technique, including the children and infant technique, known as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), in accordance with the criteria submitted b…

(a) No person shall smoke, chew, or otherwise use tobacco products in the buildings or outdoor play areas of a licensed child day care center, as defined in § 23-28.1-5(21), or in any vehicle used by the center for transporting children or in outside areas on the grounds or premi…

(a) No tent exceeding three hundred fifty square feet (350 sq. ft.) in area shall be erected, maintained, operated, or used in any city or town in this state except under a license from the licensing authorities of the city or town; provided, however, that for tent installations …

Signs prohibiting smoking shall be prominently displayed at all entrances and at other locations within any tent used as a place of assembly, so that they may be clearly visible to all occupants. Frequent announcements regarding the prohibition shall be made, preferably over a pu…

All automobiles, trucks, tractors, lighting equipment, and other equipment using gasoline shall be filled with approved safety cans or by hose from fixed pumps, from wheeled tanks with pumps, or a pump from a tank wagon located not closer than twenty-five feet (25′) to any tent.

(a) The chief of the fire department shall survey, or cause to be surveyed, each tent for which a permit has been granted, after it is erected, and if it is to be used as a place of assembly, before it is occupied. The chief of the fire department shall require installation of su…

(a) Uniformed firefighters shall be detailed to all circuses, carnivals, or other exhibitions where large crowds assemble. They shall familiarize themselves with all fire protection facilities and fire prevention features, and with the condition of exits, and shall patrol the ent…

No proprietors of any performance tent, and no managers or other person or persons in charge thereof, shall suffer or permit any person to stand or sit, and no person shall stand or sit, in any aisle or passageway or open space around a ring enclosure in any tent, in which seats …

All permits issued under this chapter shall expire on the last day of each calendar year unless sooner designed on the permit or sooner revoked.

If any part of this chapter shall be declared unconstitutional or invalid, the unconstitutionality or invalidity shall in no way affect the constitutionality or validity of any other portion thereof which can be given reasonable effect without the part so declared unconstitutiona…

Notwithstanding any provisions of law to the contrary, no person who without remuneration provides assistance upon request of any police agency, fire company, first aid, rescue, or emergency squad, or other agency or unit of government in the event of an accident or other emergen…

Registration of and permits for persons, firms, corporations, and partnerships engaged in the business of selling or offering for sale at wholesale or retail liquefied petroleum gas are required.

(a) Application for permits under this chapter shall be made pursuant to regulations adopted by the state fire marshal and those regulations may from time to time be amended by the marshal. (b) The fire marshal shall have the authority to conduct hearings or proceedings concernin…

(a) The applicant must submit an application to the state fire marshal, on a form provided by the state fire marshal. Upon receipt of the application, the state fire marshal will schedule a fire safety inspection of the facility in accordance with N.F.P.A. 1, 2003 edition, as ame…

Each application for a permit under this chapter shall be accompanied by the fee prescribed by this section, which fee shall be returned in the event the application is denied. The permit fee shall be seventy-five dollars ($75.00) annually. All fees collected pursuant to this sec…

Instructions for the operation of the dispensers shall be conspicuously posted on either the dispenser or the dispenser island.

A list of emergency procedures and instructions shall be conspicuously posted in the immediate vicinity of the attendant’s remote control location.

The dispensing operation shall at all times be in unobstructed view of the attendant, and the placing or allowing of any obstacle to come between the dispensing operation, and the attendant, so as to obstruct the attendant’s view, is prohibited.

Hose nozzle valves used at self-service islands shall be the approved automatic closing type without a latch-open device with the exception that listed stage II vapor recovery nozzles that will only operate when the bellows assembly is compressed into the automobile fill pipe and…

A voice communication system, such as, but not limited to, an intercom system, so as to allow direct voice communication at all times between the person dispensing the fuel and the attendant, shall be required by the authority having jurisdiction.