National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)'s Blog, page 21

Raising Awareness of Electrical Hazards and Job Site Safety on Construction Projects

Construction Safety Week, May 2- 6, is an annual campaign that brings together a diverse group of organizations and industry professionals from across the globe dedicated to workplace safety. From construction workers and managers, to engineers, supervisors, and architects, there are countless professionals who regularly work and visit a construction site during the span of the project. It’s...



[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

National Electrical Safety Month Reminds Us All to be Safer when Working with Electricity Around Emerging Technologies

Hindsight is always 20/20. Looking back over my 30 years as an electrician, there are certainly some things I should have done differently when it came to making choices around electrical safety. I like to use the phrase, “I could have been a statistic; I should have been a statistic,” when relaying some of those stories to others. Maybe it was because the customer didn’t want their power turned...



[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Atrium Design Considerations

The use of vertical openings within buildings is a common design feature. Large spaces, typically in the center of a building, created by vertical openings through floors and ceilings are commonly referred to by architects as an atrium. Atriums are desirable to some building designs because they allow for light and ventilation within a space and allow for many parts of a building to feel...



[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

2021 AUBE/SUPDET Conference was a Hit!

The 2021 AUBE/SUPDET Conference hosted in Duisburg, Germany had more than 75 education sessions centered around the latest detection and suppression systems research! 
For the first time, the conference was a hybrid experience. And not only did it go off without a hitch, but both live and pre-recorded sessions were integrated into the conference, offering flexibility for speakers and attendees...



[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Hazardous Materials and the Applicability of NFPA 400

As I discussed in a previous blog, organizations, and even different documents produced by the same organization, define hazardous material differently. NFPA 400, Hazardous Materials Code, defines hazardous material as:
A chemical or substance that is classified as a physical hazard material or a health hazard material, whether the chemical or substance is in usable or waste condition.
One...



[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Hangers and Support of Sprinkler System Piping

With all of the hard work and effort that goes into designing and installing a sprinkler system, we want to make sure it’s going to stay in place for years to come. Designing the support of such a system is no easy task but if done right can help save lives and property.
Hangers need to do three things:  connect to the building itself, typically to structural members; be long enough to reach the...



[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The Impact of Slow Code Implementation - What is an Inspector to Do?

The 2023 edition of NFPA 70®, National Electrical Code (NEC®) will soon be released. You might be thinking wait, what? My jurisdiction is still enforcing an older version of the NEC, wait for me! The NFPA standards development process has hundreds of volunteers, who donate over 30,000 hours of time thoroughly reviewing each NEC article and section along with thousands of public inputs so that a...



[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

What is Hazardous Material?

Which code or standard applies to hazardous materials? How much of a particular hazardous material can be stored or used? What floor of the building can that hazardous material be stored or used on? These are all questions some are faced with daily. There is an assumption that people, such as facility managers, building owners, engineers, and first responders, just inherently know when a material...



[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

A Better Understanding of NFPA 70E: Setting Up an Electrical Safety Program

Are employees trained on the requirements of NFPA 70E®, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace® or are they trained on your Electrical Safety Program (ESP) requirements which are based on NFPA 70E? Someone must be trained on the NFPA 70E requirements to assure that the ESP complies. But an employee who gets exposed to an electrical hazard during the workday does not need to be...



[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

A Better Understanding of NFPA 70E Setting Up an Electrical Safety Program

Are employees trained on the requirements of NFPA 70E®, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace® or are they trained on your Electrical Safety Program (ESP) requirements which are based on NFPA 70E? Someone must be trained on the NFPA 70E requirements to assure that the ESP complies. But an employee who gets exposed to an electrical hazard during the workday does not need to be...



[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]