Certifications

The mission of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), which was organized in 1896, is to reduce the burden of fire on the quality of life by advocating scientifically-based consensus codes and standards, research and education for fire and related safety issues. The Association was incorporated in 1930 under laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

NFPA is an independent, voluntary membership, nonprofit (tax-exempt) organization. A 30-member Board of Directors has general charge of the affairs of the Association, which has a staff of 157 professional men and women plus 144 support personnel. NFPA is financed principally by sales of its publications and audio-visual materials, membership dues, income from seminars, research grants, and contributions. It operates on an annual expense budget of $45 million.

Membership

Membership in NFPA totals more than 64,000 individuals and over 100 national trade and professional organizations. The vast majority of the members are residents of the United States, but because of its international status, there are many members from Canada and 70 other nations. Members are drawn from fire departments (24%); health care facilities (11%); business and industry (20%); insurance (6%); federal, state, and local government (7%); architects and engineers (8%); fire equipment manufacturers and distributors (6%); trade and professional associations (2%); and other fields (16%).

There are six categories of voting members: regular, life, senior, organization, sustaining, and honorary. There are two categories of non-voting members: affiliate and student. There are 14 sections within the voting membership. The Fire Marshall Association of North America is the oldest. It was founded in 1906 and reorganized in 1927 as the Fire Marshalls Section of NFPA. The other sections, in order of their founding, are Electrical (1948); Rail Transportation Systems (1963); Industrial Fire Protection (1963); Fire Service (1973); Health Care (1976); Fire Science and Technology Educators (1976); Architects, Engineers, and Building Code Officials (1979); Aviation (1980); Education (1981); Research (1987); Wildland Fire Management (1988); Lodging Industry (1988); and Building Fire Safety Systems (1993).

Codes and Standards

Activities of NFPA generally fall into two broad, interrelated areas: technical and educational.

The basic technical activity involves development, publication, and dissemination of timely consensus codes and standards intended to minimize the possibility and effects of fire in all aspects of contemporary activity. In addition, efforts continue to educate people of all ages from regions in preventing the loss of life and property from fire. Key to this effort are the teaching of codes and standards and the importance of fire safety as a way of life.

Codes and Standards are developed by more than 205 NFPA committees, each of which represent a balance of affected interests. More than 5,300 individuals serve voluntarily on the Association's committees on unpaid basis. Committees operate according to the detailed official Regulations Governing Committee Projects and are administered by the Standards Council, which reports to the Association's Board of Directors.

Built into the codes and standards development and adoption process is the publication of calls for proposals to amend existing documents or on the proposed draft of new documents. These public proposals and the committee action on each proposal, as well as committee-generated proposals, are published in the Technical Committee Report on Comments (ROC). Only after this public review and comment cycle has been completed is the final committee report brought before the membership for action. This democratic legislative procedure allows proponents and opponents to be freely heard. Once adopted by the NFPA membership at either an annual meeting or a fall meeting, and issued by the Standards Council, codes and standards are published and made available for voluntary adoption.

Tentative Interim Amendments and Formal Interpretations are issued from time to time. Notices of the issuance of TIAs and FIs are published in Fire News and other media.

NFPA codes and standards, which currently number more than 290, have great influence because they are widely used as the basis of legislation and regulation at all levels of government, from local to national. Many are referenced by agencies of the federal government. In the U.S., this includes the regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), NAtional Institute of Health (NIH), and the Department of Energy (DOE). The documents also are used by insurance authorities for risk evaluation and premium rating.