Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/801657
palletcentral.com PalletCentral • January-February 2017 15 Bill Koffel is President of Koffel Associates, a fire protection and life safety engineering design and consulting firm, recognized as an expert in the fire protection and life safety aspects of codes and standards. Bill is active in the development process of the industry's governing codes, standards and design guidelines including International Code Council (ICC), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) and Underwriters Laboratory (UL). USDA Collaboration On May 12, 2016, the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (USDS-FS-FPL) and NWPCA entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to renew a partnership between the Federal government, and the wooden pallet and container industry. What does the MOU mean for this industry? Learn more from Mike Ritter, USDS-FS-FPL, and Rick Bergman, U.S. Forest Service, on a variety of projects and areas of cooperation of mutual benefit, including environmental product declarations and innovative pilot projects that explore urban wood recovery. Joining the panel is Kate Lewis, Deputy Program Manager, USDA BioPreferred® Program. Kate will discuss the USDA BioPreferred program, the value and how-to for voluntary pallet certification and labeling available to Pallet Design System™ users. PC The development and harmonization of outdoor pallet storage fire codes dominated time and industr y attention since 2013. What does the successful passage of these codes mean for your business in 2017 and beyond? —Bill Koffel, Bill Koffel and Associates