Rich Walke – Creative Technology Inc.
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.
About UL
A global leader in applied safety science, UL Solutions transforms safety, security, and sustainability challenges into opportunities for customers in more than 100 countries. UL Solutions delivers testing, inspection and certification services, together with software products and advisory offerings, that support our customers’ product innovation and business growth.
About STI Firestop
Since 1990 Specified Technologies, Inc. (STI) is a global leader in the firestopping industry. The company manufactures a wide array of products and technologies to provide passive fire protection. Headquartered in Somerville, NJ, STI has sales offices all over the globe. STI Marine is a Division of STI that specializes in marine fire protection in the cruise line, offshore oil and gas, and general maritime industry. STI Marine’s product line consists of a full range of products used for penetration seals and cable transits in fire-rated bulkheads and decks, including water-tight firestop sealants, firestop collars for plastic piping, and an innovative cable transit device. All products comply with the IMO FTP Code and are subject to various Type Approvals include MED, DNV GL, Lloyds Register, ABS, USCG, BV, RINA and more…