National Fire Protection Association Blog

Watch remarks from NFPA President Jim Shannon

The role of technology – and how it helps NFPA improve, health, safety and education for its many audiences around the world – was the focus of NFPA President Jim Shannon’s remarks at the General Session of the NFPA Conference & Expo in Chicago. "We have become accustomed to getting answers to questions right away," he said. "We communicate all day with our co-workers, colleagues in other places, our families, our friends.  We are connected all day, every day… We have structured our lives, both professional and personal, around a technology that we knew almost nothing about a couple of decades ago." Read the full text of Mr. Shannon's speech.

Watch remarks from NFPA Chair Philip Stittleburg

NFPA Chair Philip C. Stittleburg used his time on stage at the Aerie Crown Theater at the McCormick Place Convention Center during the NFPA Conference & Expo to talk about NFPA’s influence. "We have more than 300 codes and standards," he said, "but many may seem remote from what we do day-to-day. Let me tell you how they affect me close to home." Read an overview of his remarks.

NFPA members only: Watch remarks from keynote speaker Doris Kearns Goodwin

Author and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin delivered the keynote address at the 2013 NFPA Conference & Expo in Chicago. The topic of her speech was President Abraham Lincoln's decision to challenge his leadership by surrounding himself with polticial rivals. This was also the topic of her best-selling book "Team of Rivals." NFPA members can watch the full keynote presentation (available only until September 10, 2013).

NFPA report: low number of on-duty firefighter deaths for second consecutive year

A special presentation today at NFPA’s Conference & Expo looked the results of the new NFPA report on on-duty firefighter fatalities. The new report shows a total of 64 on-duty firefighter deaths in the United States in 2012, marking the second consecutive year that the total has been below 65 deaths. For the past four years, the annual total has been well below 100, dropping the annual average over the past 10 years to 88 deaths.

Read NFPA’s “Firefighter Fatalities in the United States 2012” report, by Dr. Fahy, Paul LeBlanc and Joseph Molis.

“NFPA has been tracking this data since 1977 and it is certainly good news that the number of firefighter deaths has continued to decrease over the years,” said Dr. Rita Fahy, NFPA’s manager of fire databases and systems. “We are grateful for the sacrifices of these brave individuals and are hopeful that with expanded use of codes and standards and other safety initiatives the downward trend in the number of firefighters dying on duty will continue.”

In today's presentation, Dr. Fahy defined "on-duty" as including situations where firefighters are at the scene of alarms, en route responding to or returning from alarms, during training, maintenance, public education, office assignments, station duty, inspection or investigation activities, and other assignments where the firefighter was on official fire department business.

She also defined “fatality” as any injury that was incurred while on duty and proves fatal, and any illness that was incurred as a result of actions while on duty and proves fatal.

Dr. Fahy said that in 2012, 33% of the recorded firefighter on-duty fatalities occurred on the fireground, 30% while responding to or returning from an alarm, and 13% during training.

100 years ago, Frances Perkins urged NFPA to champion workplace safety

Recently, the 100th anniversary (May 13, 1913) that Frances Perkins gave her moving speech, "The Social and Human Cost of Fire" at the NFPA Annual Meeting in New York City. This speech prompted the NFPA Executive Committee to create the new “Committee on Safety to Life”.  Their work of course led to what we now have as NFPA 101, Life Safety Code. 

Frances Perkins saw it with her own eyes. She was 30, a social worker living in New York City, and was visiting a friend for Saturday tea in Greenwich Village when the afternoon was split by the wail of sirens. She and her friends ran to the other side of Washington Square, and were among the throngs who witnessed the spectacle of the Triangle fire firsthand.

The fire, and the subsequent impassioned calls to action by labor reformers, had a profound impact on Perkins, and she vowed to take up the reform cause. She wasted little time; by the following year, she had become executive secretary of the Committee on Safety, a non-governmental body formed in the days following the Triangle fire to push for system-wide reforms for worker safety. It was as part of her extensive lobbying efforts that Perkins — who had also become an expert in the minutiae of building safety — addressed the 17th annual meeting of NFPA in May, 1913, in New York. Specifically, Perkins urged the organization to advocate for codes that protected not just buildings, but also the people who worked in them. NFPA created the Committee on Life Safety the following year, and in 1927 issued the Building Exits Code, the forerunner to today’s Life Safety Code®.

Perkins was named Secretary of Labor in 1933 by Franklin Roosevelt, becoming the first female Cabinet secretary in U.S. history.

Read excerpts from her speech at the NFPA Annual Meeting. 

Watch coverage of the NFPA Conference & Expo in Chicago

And so it begins. NFPA is hosting its 117th annual conference this week. I'm excited to be back here in Chicago, one of my favorite cities, for this year's Conference & Expo. There will be a small group of NFPA staffers here this week, covering this year's event on our Conference blog. We'll be offering brief write-ups of education sessions, special events, photos, and try our best to keep you up-to-date on what's happening here in Chicago. 

We'd love to hear from you, so please e-mail me at mhazell@nfpa.org or feel free to comment on any of our posts (click on the "Comments" link under any post). 

 

NFPA Conference & Expo mobile tools offered

We are providing several digital additions to Conference & Expo this year! These will allow for greater access to the conference for attendees, non-attendees and press, as well as an enhanced experience for those present.

Download the NFPA app Simply scan this QR code with your smartphone.

The general session, including the keynote address by Doris Kearns Goodwin, will be broadcast live from the NFPA conference blog on Monday, June 10, at 1:00 pm (CST). Goodwin, author of “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” the basis of Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” will be sharing lessons in leadership and team-building in the midst of trying circumstances.

A mobile conference app has been made available, complete with an onsite guide. The app offers a fully opt-in Friends feature, which allows attendees to view the complete list of other attendees and invite them to be a "Friend." Friends can send messages and view each other's schedule. Among other app components, the enhanced Maps feature offers directions on the expo floor, and the session schedule tool allows attendees to build their conference schedule based on the sessions and special meetings that they select. Download the NFPA 2013 C&E mobile app from any app store.

News and information from the conference will be available on a virtual press room at www.nfpa.org/ConfPressRoom. All NFPA conference news will be available at this site, as well as news from exhibitors. In addition, NFPA social media feeds for Twitter, Facebook and the blog rolls will be live through the press room, including images from the conference.

Hear about Lincoln's "lessons in leadership" at NFPA conference

from SunTimes.com

Noted historian Doris Kearns Goodwin will be a keynote speaker Monday at the National Fire Protection Association Conference & Expo at McCormick Place. Goodwin wrote the bestselling “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” the basis of Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” that won Daniel Day-Lewis his third best actor Oscar earlier this year. Goodwin’s connection to the fire prevention pros? She will be sharing lessons in leadership and team-building in the midst of trying circumstances and overcoming obstacles on the path toward goals.

Be sure to come back and visit our blog on Monday, June 10, at 1:00 pm (CST) to watch a live broadcast of the NFPA General Session, including the keynote address by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Learn more.

Watch a live broadcast of the NFPA General Session featuring Doris Kearns Goodwin

Even if you can't be in Chicago for the NFPA Conference & Expo in June, you can still check out our General Session. It's as easy as visiting this blog on Monday, June 10 at 1:00 pm (CST) for our free online broadcast. Watch this event "live", as it happens, at the McCormick Place Convention Center.

Add this event to your Outlook calendar.

The General Session will open with remarks by NFPA Chair Philip C. Stittleburg and President Jim Shannon. Several awards will be presented to honor special achievement, including the NFPA Life Safety Educator of the Year, the Industrial Fire Protection Section's "Fire Prevention Week" Award, the Fire Protection Research Foundation Medal, and the Standards Medal, the highest award given by the Standards Council.

This year's Keynote Address will be presented by historian and author Doris Kearns Goodwin. Ms. Kearns Goodwin, who wrote the best-selling book "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln", will share lessons in leadership, building and maintaining teams in the midst of trying circumstances and overcoming obstacles on the path towards your goal.

"Team of Rivals" was the basis of the 2012 feature film "Lincoln" (for which Daniel Day-Lewis won the Academy Award for "Best Actor"). Please join us online or better yet, in Chicago, for a General Session that sure to offer inspiration and historical insights.

There's no special registration required for watching our live broadcast of the NFPA General Session on Monday, June 10. Just come back to this blog at 1:00 pm (CST).

Add this event to your Outlook calendar.

Thomas K. Varney: profile of a regional manager overseeing 50+ engineers

Thomas K. Varney is a Regional Manager for Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty in Chicago, Illinois. 

Tom works in the Risk Consulting area of a major global insurance carrier.  His responsibilities include overall management of 50+ primarily engineers working in the Americas (specifically Canada, U.S., Mexico and Brazil).  Part of his job is to make sure that all the engineers keep their skills as up-to-date as possible within the discipline they primarily work in.  His Loss Control expertise includes property, energy, ocean and inland marine, engineering (builder risk), aviation and liability. 

When and where did you take your last NFPA certification class or exam?

Tom took the Automatic Sprinkler and Alarm Plan Review in October 2008 in Hartford, Connecticut because that was where he lived at the time and it was a convenient location for him.

How has your NFPA certification changed or opened new doors for your career?

“The CFPS designation has provided me with an opportunity to better gauge the abilities of engineers I work with in the U.S. and outside the U.S.  It has also provided an opportunity to provide an avenue for fire protection certification that requires ongoing maintenance to retain skill levels in various ways.”

“I also believe this type of certification based on the NFPA Handbook is an excellent option for engineers outside the U.S.”

Thomas Varney was elected to the CFPS Board of Directors in June 2010 and currently serves as the Director on the Marketing & Communications Committee.

Have you earned certification or are you in the midst of training? Share your challenges, issues, and achievements by responding to these brief questions. We can't wait to hear from you!