Standards

This CARICOM Regional Standard establishes requirements for environmental management systems (EMS) to enable tourism establishments to formulate a policy, objectives and minimum performance requirements based on best environmental management practice.

It is intended for establishments providing tourism related services that wish to implement and maintain an EMS and demonstrate such conformance.

This standard does not apply to organisations such as government ministries, regulatory departments and agencies, associations and statutory bodies that do not provide a tourism related service.

This standard specifies requirements for an energy management and efficiency programme to be implemented at tourism establishments. It provides the basis to enable these tourism establishments to review their energy consumption and implement efficiency measures thus minimizing energy use.

This standard does not apply to organizations such as government ministries, regulatory departments and agencies, associations and statutory bodies that do not provide a tourism related service.

This national standard specifies requirements for a management system where a micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise:

a) needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently meet applicable requirements for quality and occupational safety and health; and

b) aims to enhance its performance, through the process of continual improvement, assurance of conformity to applicable quality and occupational safety and health requirements, and the prevention of nonconformity by the application of this system.

The scope of the International Building Code® (IBC®) includes all buildings except detached one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses up to three stories. For the most current adoptions details go to International Code Adoptions

The 2018 IBC contains many important changes such as:

• Accessory storage spaces of any size are now permitted to be classified as part of the occupancy to which they are accessory.
• New code sections have been introduced addressing medical gas systems and higher education laboratories.
• Use of fire walls to create separate buildings is now limited to only the determination of permissible types of construction based on allowable building area and height.
• Where an elevator hoistway door opens into a fire-resistance-rated corridor, the opening must be protected in a manner to address smoke intrusion into the hoistway.
• The occupant load factor for business uses has been revised to one occupant per 150 square feet.
• Live loads on decks and balconies increase the deck live load to one and one-half times the live load of the area served.
• The minimum lateral load that fire walls are required to resist is five pounds per square foot.
• Wind speed maps updated, including maps for the state of Hawaii. Terminology describing wind speeds has changed again with ultimate design wind speeds now called basic design wind speeds.
• Site soil coefficients now correspond to the newest generation of ground motion attenuation equations (seismic values).
• Five-foot tall wood trusses requiring permanent bracing must have a periodic special inspection to verify that the required bracing has been installed.
• New alternative fastener schedule for construction of mechanically laminated decking is added giving equivalent power-driven fasteners for the 20-penny nail.
• Solid sawn lumber header and girder spans for the exterior bearing walls reduce span lengths to allow #2 Southern Pine design values.