NFPA s Standards Development Process
Revision Cycle 104 weeks or 141 weeks
Guiding Principles Due process Openness Lack of dominance Seek society s balance between: Acceptable risk Commitment of resources
The Participants 1) The public 2) ~80,000 Members 3) Board of Directors Approximately 23 members Elected by Membership 4) Standards Council 5) Technical Committees 6) NFPA Staff
Standards Council 13 Members Appointed by Board Responsibilities: A) Adjudicate appeals B) Issue documents & TIAs C) Appoint Committee members D) Assign Committee scopes Typically meet 3 times/year
Technical Committees Consensus bodies in system Typical maximum size of 30 Can petition for larger size Overall ~ 7,700 Volunteers ~ 278 Technical Committees, balanced by interest categories ~ 300 Codes & Standards
Technical Committees Membership is continually monitored All members reappointed annually Inactive members removed Don t need to be general NFPA Association member to be a TC member
Technical Committees Carefully balanced by 9 interest categories (1) Applied Research/Testing Laboratory; (2) Consumer; (3) Enforcing Authority; (4) Installer/Maintainer; (5) Insurance; (6) Labor; (7) Manufacturer; (8) Special Expert; (9) User
Technical Committee Inherent safeguard against dominance 1/3 Balance Rule: A committee can never have more than 1/3 of its membership from any one interest category* Consensus Requirement: Minimum 2/3 on all changes Some situations require ¾ majority
Doc Info Pages Document Information Document scope Current/Previous Edition information Issued TIAs, FIs and Errata Archived revision information Standard Council Decisions Articles and Reports Read only document Next Edition Submit Public Input/Comments via Electronic Submission System. Meetings and Ballots ROP/ROC or First Draft Report and Second Draft Report NITMAM and Standard Council Decisions Private TC info Ballot circulations, informational ballots and other committee info Technical Committee Committee name, responsibility and scope Staff liaison Committee list Private committee contact information Current committee documents in PDF format Committees seeking members and committee online application 2/27/2013
New Process What s New? Changes in Terms: New Term Input Stage Public Input First Draft Meeting Committee Input Committee Statement (CS) First Revision First Draft Report First Draft Old Term ROP Stage Proposal ROP Meeting Trial Balloon (or later, FR that fails ballot) Committee Statement Committee Proposal or Accepted Public Proposal ROP ROP Draft 12
New Process What s New? Changes in Terms: New Term Comment Stage Public Comment Second Draft Meeting Committee Comment Second Revision Second Draft Report Second Draft Old Term ROC Stage Public Comment ROC Meeting Comment that Failed Ballot (Second Revision that failed ballot) Committee Comment or Accepted Public Comment ROC ROC Draft 13
New Projects New Project Request to Standards Council Anyone can request a new project SC requests input and renders a decision If approved, assigned to a committee or a new committee established Committee develops draft document for public input (proposals) and enters revision cycle
The Four Steps Step 1 Input Stage Step 2 Comment Stage Step 3 Association Technical Meeting Step 4 Council Appeals and Issuance
Step 1 Input Stage Acceptance of Public Input Following the publication of previous document TC, Panel, CC hold First Draft Meeting Committee ballot on First Draft 2/3 affirmative vote CC ballot on all correlating notes (3/4 majority required) First Draft Report posted
Step 2 Comment Stage Acceptance of Public Comment No Public Comment Received-Consent Document Second Draft Meeting Committee Ballot on Second Draft 2/3 affirmative vote CC ballot on all correlating notes (3/4 majority required) Second Draft Report Posted
Step 4 Council Appeals/Issuance of Standard Consent Standard Received no controversial proposed changes Received no public comments Sent to Standards Council for issuance Council Appeals Standards Council considers and hears appeals Decision of Standards Council is final and becomes affective 20 days after issuance.
Two Revision Cycles per Year Annual (June) 101 weeks (2 years) Fall (November) 141 weeks (receives amending motion)
NFPA REGIONAL DIRECTORS New England Bob Duval Canada Sean Tracey Mid-Atlantic John Caufield Southern Randy Safer Central Russ Sanders Northwest Gary Honold Southwest Ray Bizal Fire Code Field Office Jim Dolan
NFPA ARFF Technical Committee AIR-AAA Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting Class Voting Number Percent C 9 27% E 5 15% L 3 9% M 8 24% RT 1 3% SE 2 6% U 5 15% Total Voting Number 33
NFPA Enforcers Project NFPA to reimburse travel and lodging expenses for those who are classified as an E. Will reimburse 80% of those expenses. Must apply for the funding and the application can be found at www.nfpa.org
NFPA ARFF Documents NFPA 402 Guide for Aircraft Rescue and Fire-Fighting Operations NFPA 403 Standard for Aircraft Rescue and Fire-Fighting Services at Airports NFPA 405 Standard for the Recurring Proficiency of Airport Fire Fighters NFPA 408 Standard for Aircraft Hand Portable Fire Extinguishers NFPA 412 Standard for Evaluating Aircraft Rescue and Fire- Fighting Foam Equipment NFPA 414 Standard for Aircraft Rescue and Fire-Fighting Vehicles NFPA 422 Guide for Aircraft Accident/Incident Response Assessment NFPA 424 Guide for Airport/Community Emergency Planning
NFPA ARFF Documents NFPA 403 proposed changes: Must have a pre-arranged mutual aid plan in place 3 year full scale exercise with a table top exercise at least annually Added the use of flourine free synthetic foam as well as the performance testing requirements Extracted definitions from NFPA 11 for consistency
NFPA ARFF Documents NFPA 403 cont. Change in response times 3 minutes from time of alarm to any point on the operations runway and begin agent application 4 minutes from time of alarm to any point remaining within the on airport portion of the RRA
NFPA ARFF Documents NFPA 403 cont: NFPA Cat 7 airport vehicle number reduced from 3 down to 2 The responding units and personnel shall demonstrate the ability to apply extinguishing agent to the interior of the aircraft within 4 minutes of arrival at the accident/incident location.
NFPA ARFF Documents NFPA 412 proposed changes: Testing types and testing methods Input based testing: Testing the foam solution by measuring the flow rate or volume of concentrate, or suitable substitute for concentrate, and comparing this flow rate or volume to the flow rate or volume of water used, then using those two numbers to calculate the proportions of concentrate and water in the foam solution.
NFPA ARFF Documents NFPA 412 proposed changes: Testing types and testing methods Output based testing: Testing the foam solution by collecting a sample of the solution after aerating and dispensing it, and using instruments and calculations to determine the sample s proportions of concentrate and water in the foam solution.
NFPA ARFF Documents NFPA 412 cont: Testing methods: Method A-output based using a refractometer or conductivity meter Method B-output based using only a refractometer Method C-input based
NFPA ARFF Documents NFPA ARFF documents in revision cycles: NFPA 405 NFPA 408 NFPA 422 ARFF TC will meet early May to address these documents.
NFPA ARFF Documents Upcoming or hot issues? Unified command Health and wellness Training and recurrent training
NFPA ARFF Documents Other NFPA documents that could influence NFPA ARFF documents: NFPA 1901 NFPA 1003 NFPA 10 NFPA 1500 NPFA 1971 NFPA 1561 NFPA 1001 NFPA 1582
In Summary Balanced Consensus Body TCs Extensive Public Input & Notification (NFPA News, ANSI Standards Action, Federal Register) Steps 0) New Project Request 1) Input Stage 2) Comment Stage 3) Association Technical Meeting 5) Council Appeals/Issuance of Standard
In Summary Due process Openness Lack of dominance Revision cycles Annual 101 weeks (2 years) Fall 141 weeks (receives amending motion)
Contact Information Ken Holland kholland@nfpa.org 617-984-7490 Duane Kann- NFPA ARFF TC Chair Mark Lawler-ARFFWG Rep on ARFF TC
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