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The
National Fire Protection
Association (NFPA)
is a US association in charge of the generation and maintenance of the
minimum required standards and requirements in regards prevention and
fire extinction, training and equipment, as well as life safety codes
and standards. These includes from construction codes through firemen
protection equipments. NFPA regulations have as central objective to
protect people, property and the environment.
The NFPA was founded on 1896 by a group of insurance firms representatives
with the purpose of standardize the fire sprinkler market. NFPA
objective grew to include electric construction materials specifications,
as well as other design aspects, construction, architecture and
engineering. In 1904 other industries and individuals were allowed to
participate actively on the NFPA standards development.
The NFPA has it’s headquarters in Quincy Massachusetts, US, and
currently covers development and maintenance of more than 300 codes and
standards; with a group of more than 6,000 volunteers representing fire
protection services, insurance companies, general industry, government
and general consumers. Must of the cities in the world, specially US
ones, include NFPA codes as a part of their local construction and
operation laws. Nonetheless it is included within law or not, worldwide
NFPA normative is accepted as a professional standard and a solid
reference for fire protection.
The NFPA is the main source of development and spreading of fire
protection and life safety knowledge. The system to develop codes and
normative within NFPA is an open process based on consensus produced
from the must referenced documentary materials in the fire protection
industry, including National Electric Code, Life Safety Code, Fire
Prevention Code and National Fire Alarm Code. The NFPA is leader on fire
protection and life safety educational programs promotion. NFPA
publications have been translated into several languages around the
world. More than 75,000 members integrated it’s global network.
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