National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)'s Blog, page 322

Global effort making garment factories safer for workers in Bangladesh

The head of NFPA's field operations division says tremendous progress has been made to improve workplace safety in Bangladesh. NFPA Vice President Don Bliss, speaking at the “2nd International Trade Expo for Building and Fire Safety,” said that in the 18 months since a building collapse killed 1,100 garment workers and injured 2,500 others at Rana Plaza outside Dhaka, a strong commitment to safety by apparel owners, government, global buyers and other stakeholders is making the industry safer for workers. According to an article in theindependent, the three-day conference in Bangladesh was organized by the Alliance for Bangladesh Workers Safety,...

In December's issue of NFPA News: New document NFPA 1986 seeking input, Proposed TIA seeking comment on NFPA 72, Standards Council preliminary minutes available and more

The December issue of NFPA News, our codes and standards newsletter, is now available. In this issue: New document, NFPA 1986, seeking public input Proposed TIA seeking public comment on NFPA 72 Council seeks public comment on two new projects: Fire-based community healthcare provider (FBCHP) program and SCAM of rescue tools Standards Council preliminary minutes and decision available TIAs issued and not issued News in brief Committees soliciting public input Committees seeking members Committee meetings calendar Subscribe today! NFPA News is a free newsletter, and includes special announcements, notification of public input and comment closing dates, requests for comments, notices...

NFPA's involvement with Mobile Integrated Healthcare & Community Paramedicine outlined in video and infographic

The NFPA Technical Committee on Emergency Medical Services (EMS-AAA) convened a national emergency medical services (EMS) stakeholders meeting in April 2014 to discuss the subject of Mobile Integrated Healthcare/Community Paramedicine (MIH/CP). Over the past few years, there have been many changes to the delivery of healthcare, including the delivery of EMS, which has led to the need for this collaborative meeting. The reforms compelled the EMS Technical Committee to organize a meeting for stakeholders to garner input from a broad group of healthcare professionals and to discuss the possibility for a new standard request on MIH/CP. The meeting afforded the...

NFPA, USFA, ESFI host winter safety Twitter chat

Each year, NFPA and USFA team up to remind you that the winter months are the leading time of year for home fires in our Put a Freeze on Winter Fires campaign. To help you stay safe, we provide a wealth of safety tips and information on cooking, heating, candles and holiday decorating – factors that contribute to the increased risk of home fires in the months ahead. This Wednesday, at 2:00pm ET, NFPA and USFA will join forces with ESFI to host a Twitter chat all about winter safety. We will discuss many important winter home fire topics and...

Today in fire history: natural gas explosion in a restaurant kills 6 and injures 12 others

At 3:56 p.m. on Friday, December 6, 1985, a natural gas explosion occurred at the River Restaurant in Derby, Connecticut. It appears that a gas main may have been damaged during the refilling of a sewer excavation. Before anyone became aware of the leak, escaping gas accumulated in the basement of the restaurant and came in contact with an undetermined ignition source. The explosion killed six people in the restaurant, injured 12 other occupants, and completely destroyed the building housing the restaurant. Three people who were not in the restaurant were also injures by the explosion. For the full NFPA...

How far has the fire service come in embracing life safety initiative dedicated to home fire sprinklers?

Illinois sprinkler advocates at work It’s been 10 years since the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation published its 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives as part of its Everyone Goes Home Program. Following these initiatives, the U.S. Fire Administration set a national goal of reducing line-of-duty firefighter deaths by 50 percent within the decade. The 16 initiatives have been a vital rallying call to unite the fire service. Every preventable death is a success, but we have more work to do. There were 104 on-duty firefighter deaths reported in the U.S. in 2004, according to NFPA. Over the next nine years, the...

Members wanted for new Technical Committee on Hybrid (Water and Inert Gas) Fire Extinguishing Systems

At its October 2014 meeting, the NFPA Standards Council voted to approve the development of a new committee and new document on Hybrid (Water and Inert Gas) Fire Extinguishing Systems. The Council directed that a call for members interested in serving on the proposed new Technical Committee be published. NFPA staff will return to the Council with a proposed startup roster and a proposed committee scope. Hybrid (Water and Inert Gas) Fire Extinguishing Systems: Submit online application Note: You will be asked to sign-in or create a free online account with NFPA before using this system. To maintain consensus, all...

NFPA invites you to be part of the discussion on fire hoses

NFPA's Ken Willette invites your participation in the development of NFPA's standard on fire hoses. A researcher at Worcester Polytechnic Institute is working on a project to make fire hoses more fire-resistant. The project, managed by Kathy Notarianni, an associate professor in the Fire Protection Engineering Department at WPI, follows a fire in Boston's Back Bay neighbrhood last March in which two firefighters died after their attack fire hose burned. All research on this topic is being forwarded to the NFPA Technical Committee on Fire Hose, which develops NFPA 1961, Standard on Fire Hose, which will consider any proposed revisions...

Today in fire history: a fire occurred on the third floor of the conference facility killing 26 and injuring 24 others

On December 4, 1980, a fire occurred on the third floor of the conference facility at the Stouffer's Inn of Westchester, which was located in Harrison, New York. Of approximately 95 occupants who were attending meetings in several conference rooms, 26 persons lost their lives and 24 were injured. The fire did not involve guest rooms facilities of the hotel complex. The fire originated in an exit access corridor outside the meeting rooms in the three-story, fire resistive, nonsprinklered building that was classified as a place of assembly. In the early stages of the fire, meeting-room occupants were faced with...

NFPA Standards Council issues preliminary minutes and one decision on NFPA 70

The NFPA Standards Council met on October 28-29, 2014 in Nashville, Tennessee. At the meeting, some of the following items were addressed by the Council: an appeal on a proposed TIA to NFPA 70, 2014 edition on 517.41(E) issuance of proposed TIAs on NFPA 70, 400, 1851, 1951, and 1971 new projects/documents on hybrid, gas, and fire water droplet systems; fire-based community healthcare provider (FBCHP) program. consideration of a request from the Committee to enter new document, NFPA 1986, Standard on Respiratory Protection Equipment for Technical and Tactical Operations, into revision cycle. consideration requests from Committees to change revision cycle...