Until recently, there has been no industry standard or mandate for the production and testing of snow retention devices—but now there is.

S-5! announced another “first”: it is the first and only company to receive an Evaluation Report (ER) from the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO), certifying its snow retention systems’ compliance with Evaluation Criteria (EC) 029-2018 for Standing Seam Metal Roof-Mounted Rail-Type Snow Retention Systems.

In the absence of building code that covers snow retention, compliance with the IAPMO EC 029–2018 is “code equivalent” and may be utilized by specification to qualify proper design, testing and production.

An EC document from IAPMO is a consensus of professionals concerning the specifics of how a product or system is to be evaluated and how the results are interpreted and applied. The EC is analogous to the Acceptance Criteria (AC) document from the International Code Council-Evaluation Service (ICC-ES). 

Evaluation Reports (ER) from IAPMO certifying compliance to an EC are widely accepted by jurisdictional code compliance agencies whereas other means of evaluation often are not. Of note is that the IAPMO EC 029–2018 is also harmonious with the Metal Construction Association’s document on “Qualifying Snow Retention Systems for Metal Roofing.”

“I am thrilled that there is finally an industry consensus standard for testing and certifying snow retention devices, and that S-5! has been approved to this new standard,” said Rob Haddock, CEO and founder of S-5! 

“Product production, testing and certification are of utmost importance to public safety,” continued Haddock. “While other providers have joined the marketplace since I first invented S-5! penetration-free attachment technologies, this market space has been completely unregulated. The result is that many applications are not appropriately engineered for specific design loads, posing a threat to public safety and potential liability for the owner, contractor and/or designer. I expect that this new standard will set the bar for the importance of tested and certified snow retention systems, and I hope other producers will follow with compliance.”