The NFPA Podcast National Fire Protection Association

May is National Electrical Safety Month. Today on the podcast, Derek talks to Electrical Safety Foundation International President Brett Brenner (3:01) about what the data says on who most often experiences electrical injuries and how, as well as electrical safety considerations in the age of electric vehicles and smart home technology. Plus, a conversation with NEC Correlating Committee Chair Larry Ayer (31:45) about how terminology remains consistent and coherent in the NEC.
 
On May 18, NFPA hosts a daylong conference on electrical safety. Learn more at nfpa.org/conferenceseries.

Today on the podcast, we look at how fire and life safety messaging is developed and spread. Who creates these important messages about cooking, candles, and changing the batteries in your fire alarms? How is the guidance updated as new information arrives and new threats emerge?
 
First, Robby talks to Kelly Ransdell (2:05), the NFPA staff liaison of the group responsible for crafting and updating safety messaging. Then he and Kelly speak to a representative from the NFPA Public Education Network about how these messages are spread to states and local communities (25:20).
 
Links:
nfpa.org/publiceducation

More than a year after the COVID-19 virus closed buildings around the world, many large facilities are preparing to reopen in the coming months, including universities, gyms, theaters, and office buildings. It’s a unique situation, perhaps unprecedented, to have so many facilities all coming back to life at the same time after such a long hiatus.
 
On today’s podcast, we speak to fire protection engineer and code expert Bill Koffel about what the reopening looks like from a fire and life safety perspective, as well as the many ways that the pandemic may permanently alter safety standards and our built environment.
Links:
Nfpa.org/coronavirus
csemag.com/articles/nfpa-101-and-covid-19/

In recent years, new insights into how structural fires behave have led to some of the most significant tactical changes the fire service has seen in decades. All of these lessons have been collected in a new document, NFPA 1700, Guide to Structural Fire Fighting, which was published last fall.
 
Today on the podcast, we talk to the two researchers who are perhaps most responsible for our current understanding of structural fire dynamics: Dan Madrzykowski and Stephen Kerber, both of the UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute. They discuss what their extensive research has revealed and how this knowledge has been collected and distilled into the new NFPA 1700.
 
Note: Later in March, look for free training on NFPA 1700 at nfpa.org/1700news. In April, look for a new NFPA Journal article on this topic at nfpa.org/journal. To read past coverage on this work, visit nfpa.org/firetactics.
 
 
Links:
nfpa.org/1700
nfpa.org/firetactics
nfpa.org/conference
ulfirefightersafety.org

As cannabis legalization expands, hundreds of grow and processing facilities have emerged across North America in recent years, introducing a variety of new equipment and unfamiliar processes that regulators have had little time to prepare for. 
 
Today on the podcast, we talk to Chris Witherell, a Colorado-based engineer and a leading expert on marijuana extraction equipment. His company has conducted thousands of inspections of cannabis processing facilities, giving Witherell unique insights about the state of safety in the industry and why regulating it can be such a challenge.
 
ALSO: Should NFPA pursue a new standard on cannabis grow and processing facilities? Public comment on a new standard proposal is being accepted here through March 31. 
 
Links: 
nfpa.org/cannabis
nfpa.org/cannabisfiresafety

On February 23, NFPA unveiled a new initiative called Outthink Wildfire, a comprehensive strategy that challenges policymakers on all levels to take action to reduce loss from wildfire. Its ambitious goal is the complete elimination of community wildfire loss in the United States by the year 2050. What prompted NFPA to take this big step? How will it go about achieving it? What will it take to make this goal attainable? 
 
NFPA CEO and President Jim Pauley stops by the podcast to answer those pressing questions and many others. 
 
Learn more about Outthink Wildfire at nfpa.org/Outthinkwildfire.