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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management Newsletter Website |
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October
2004
Volume 7
- Number 1 |
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NFPA & the Standard on Industrial Fire Brigades By Adam Benzing The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is an international nonprofit organization whose self-proclaimed purpose “is to reduce the worldwide burden of fire and other hazards on the quality of life by developing and advocating scientifically based consensus codes and standards, research, training, and education.” (NFPA, 25 September 2004). The NFPA is a resource to individuals, businesses, organizations and governments around the world for well researched and up to date fire prevention and safety codes and standards. Founded in 1896, the NFPA currently boasts more than 75,000 members from over 100 countries. The NFPA process of developing public safety codes and standards is driven by the participation of over 6,000 volunteers. These volunteers serve on 230 technical code- and standard- development committees and are representative of a broad array of professional backgrounds. The development process is also open to interested, outside parties to provide input to the NFPA committees who are responsible for developing and revising NFPA codes and standards. Once the codes, standards, and their periodic revisions, are proposed all NFPA members vote on them. The NFPA’s high standard of consensus has earned it the accreditation from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). One such standard developed by the NFPA and widely adopted is the NFPA 600: Standard on Industrial Fire Brigades. This comprehensive standard covers the organization, operation, training and appropriate equipping of private fire brigades. It has been widely implemented and is the model on which many firefighter certification programs are based. Standard 600 establishes training and organizational criteria for four classifications of private fire brigades: brigades that perform incipient stage fire fighting, advanced exterior fire fighting only, interior structural fire fighting only, and advanced exterior and interior structural firefighting. In addition to establishing the appropriate education, training, drills, equipment, and physical requirements for each of the classifications, Standard 600 provides guidelines on the appropriate administration and organization of private fire brigades, their limits of actions and responsibilities, appropriate risk management policies and a glossary of the definitions of relevant terms. The comprehensiveness of this standard is reflective of the relevance and competence of the NFPA’s process of proposing public safety policy. With this attention to detail it is no wonder that the NFPA has established a worldwide reputation as a leading advocate of fire prevention and an authoritative source on public safety. References: NFPA, http://www.nfpa.org, accessed 25 September 2004. NFPA, “Report on Proposals: Standard on Industrial Fire Brigades 2005 Edition.” www.nfpa.org/PDF/600-05-ROPDraft.pdf Lambton College of Applied Arts & Technology website, htp://lambton.on.ca/index_html/NAV/index_html?RECORDID=1352& YPE=EM Washington State Department of Health website, http://www.doh.wa..gov/hsqa/fsl/CRS/pdf/NFPA%20Healthcare%20Codes.pdf |