There is very little Federal legislation regarding sprinkler system design and installation. Building codes are generally left to local jurisdictions and that includes the specifications for sprinkler systems. The Federal government has used its funding and monetary clout to strongly encourage fire safety standards.
Even with all the improvements and desires to protect life through fire prevention and suppression systems, nothing impacts the process more than catastrophe. The MGM Grand Hotel fire in Las Vegas in 1980 was such an event. 85 guests and workers died during the fire captured on TV by local, national and even worldwide news agencies. The tragedy resulted in one of the nation's first fire sprinkler retrofit ordinances for high-rise buildings.
Many see this fire as the event that set off some of the first federal legislation for building safety. In 1990 the US Congress passed PL-101-391, better known as “The Hotel and Motel Safety Act (of 1990)”. This law requires that any hotel, meeting hall, or similar institution that receives federal funds (i.e. for a government traveler’s overnight stay, or a conference, etc.), must meet fire and other safety requirements. Included in these conditions is the implementation of working sprinklers.
Today fire sprinkler application and installation guidelines, and overall fire sprinkler system design guidelines, are provided by the standards set in several NFPA sections.
NFPA has developed and published more than 300 consensus codes and standards intended to eliminate death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical, and related hazards. NFPA codes and standards, administered by more than 250 Technical Committees comprising nearly 9,000 volunteer committee member seats, are adopted and used throughout the world. The most common standards are found in NFPA 13, NFPA 13D, and NFPA 13R, NFPA 14, NFPA 20 and NFPA 24. These specifications define the accepted minimum requirements for building codes that are set by local jurisdictions in the United States. Many local jurisdictions add on to these requirements and various state jurisdictions include additional requirements within state wide building codes.