The National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) first podcast has been posted, featuring an update by President Jim Shannon on the fire-safe cigarette initiative that is improving fire safety nationwide.
The podcast also includes a closer look at fundamental changes to NFPA 99, Standard for Health Care Facilities and overview of necplus, a new web-based service for users of the National Electrical Code (NEC).
NFPA’s President Jim Shannon provides an update on how citizens are becoming safer from fires caused by cigarettes as legislation sweeps across the country and states pass laws that will allow only fire-safe cigarettes to be sold there. Fire-safe cigarettes are more likely to self-extinguish if left unattended. Cigarette fires kill 700 to 900 people per year in the United States. To date, 22 states have passed legislation that requires or will soon require that cigarettes sold there meet this fire safety standard; 16 states passed the law this year.
Shannon shares his thoughts on NFPA’s role as the leader in the fight to save lives and make citizens safer from fires caused by cigarettes. He discusses key successes and challenges of the campaign, shares opinions about the opposition of major tobacco companies, and makes insightful predictions for the future of the movement.
Rich Bielen, staff liaison to NFPA 99, also discusses the fundamental overhaul that will make the codes for health care facilities more comprehensive. The code has been reformatted and new information added to better address issues facing health care facilities today and better assist those in charge of the safety of the facility as well as its occupants.