Key Takeaways
- Rich ’s Background
- Valparaiso University Grad, ,multi-Fraternity member
- Always wanted to go into engineering
- Passion started in Junior High School when he modified a bike
- Originally wanted to be in mechanical engineering, pivoted to civil engineering.
- Working at UL
- Had a friend who introduced him to the company.
- Lab work/office work combo was appealing.
- Did not think of it at Life Safety or Fire Protection.
- Started in tunnel testing
- Moved over to fire-resistance group
- 43 years at UL
- Project Engineer Work
- Interior finish materials, insulation materials
- Steiner Tunnel Test
- Involved in the MGM Fire investigation.
- Several major historical fires had impact on testing methods and codes.
- Impacting Change
- Joined Fire Resistance Group at UL in 1987
- Niche group that was into Fire Stopping
- Wanted to move the industry forward.
- Involved in evolutionary changes to standards.
- Air Leakage Tests didn’t exist at the time.
- Many standards didn’t exist, drain systems, perimeter fire containment, etc.
- Senior Regulatory Engineer
- Regulatory Services Group at UL
- Interfaces with code enforcement committee
- Involved in code development
- Opportunity to do training with code officials
- Consulting Work
- Recommissioned his side business of racing cars to become his consulting business.
- Engineering judgements
- Trying to avoid conflicts with the fire industry
About Rich
I am leveraging my 43 years of experience at UL by providing fire protection related consulting services. Areas of expertise include building materials, fire-resistance-rated construction, and the protection of breaches within fire-resistance-rated construction.
Services provided by Creative Technology include teaching, assistance in identifying and interpreting UL Fire-Resistance Designs, engineering judgments, code development, standards development, writing technical articles and technical manuals, and assistance with product certifications.
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