EVENT REVIEW
NFPA IN VEGAS J
im Pauley, president and CEO of the NFPA, opened the annual conference and expo by cataloguing some of the major tragic events that have taken place in the last year around the world, from Grenfell Tower in the UK and wildfires in Portugal, to the Las Vegas shootings that took place just across the street from where he was speaking. “It all begs the question, how can all this be possible in this day and age? And what should we be doing?” Statistically, there may be fewer fires but, he pointed out, statistically if there was a fire people would be more likely to die from it than 20 years ago. “We have the tools to prevent these fires today – sprinklers, detectors, fire codes, enforcement – but they are met with resistance. They are underused, ignored, not updated. And this is happening at a time when there are new challenges growing all around us. Each of these examples, when taken
together represents a catastrophic failure of what I call the fire and safety ecosystem.” The fire industry has forgotten that safety is a system, not a single piece of equipment, declared Pauley. “We tell people to follow the building life safety code, but we don’t spend time talking to them about the importance of reference standards that also play a critical role. We want to ensure that the building is built to the code, but we don’t ensure the fire safety whilst it is under construction. We teach people about the requirements of the electrical code, but we forget to teach them about the limitations of the product they have selected because of its design or listing.” The NFPA’s goal is therefore to tackle the breakdown of the fire safety ecosystem, which includes eight critical elements to protect people and property. These are government responsibility; development and use of
current codes; reference standards; investment in safety; skilled workforce; preparedness and emergency response; and an informed public. “Time after time we’ve seen calamities where we can trace the cause to the breakdown of one or more of the elements of the safety ecosystem.” He outlined a number of NFPA initiatives in each of the eight elements. These include the launch of the NFPA Fire Life Safety Policy Institute to provide policy makers with guidance; the development of the Code Finder, a visual map of key codes and standards in use in North America and beyond; the NFPA 3000 active shooter standard, which provides a holistic approach for communities to better prepare, respond and recover from mass casualty events; and the construction of the 9,000m2 NFPA Heroes Experience, the first public fire and life safety education attraction of its kind in the world, which is planned for Pelham, Alabama.
Jim Pauley, president and CEO of the NFPA
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