NFPA Journal - September/October 2019 - 38

Barry Chase, a senior engineer at NFPA, on a new
checklist that helps electricians determine how to
address electrical systems that have been damaged in a natural disaster:
With hurricane season in full swing, building owners
and managers of industrial and commercial facilities
are facing the daunting process of disaster recovery.
When electrical systems are damaged in a disaster,
electricians need to make critical decisions about
whether damaged electrical equipment can be
salvaged or not.

Read full
versions of
these posts
and many
others from
technical
staff on NFPA
Xchange at
nfpa.org/
community

NFPA has created a new checklist for electricians
to help highlight and simplify key aspects of this
decision-making process. The checklist builds off
of recommendations in Chapter 32 of NFPA 70B,
Recommended Practice for Electrical Equipment
Maintenance (2019 edition). The checklist includes
a list of disaster scenarios that can inflict damage to
facilities, steps for assessing equipment, a priority
assessment table, steps to help identify factors for
replacement or repair, and more.
The choice between repair and replace is not
always easy, but following these simple suggestions
can make the difference between an impossible task
and an informed decision. To download the checklist, visit nfpa.org/70bchecklist.

38 | NFPA JOURNAL * S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 1 9

RECENT BLOGS BY NFPA
TECHNICAL STAFF

Derek Vigstol, senior electrical content specialist
at NFPA, on the NFPA electrical inspector member
section's desire to provide much-needed resources to inspectors in the field:
With many municipalities slashing budgets, many
non-electrical building officials are now performing
inspections of electrical installations. In addition,
even seasoned electrical inspectors are finding it
challenging to keep up with fast-changing technologies and the changing inspection landscape.
At a roundtable discussion during the 2019 NFPA
Conference, members of the NFPA Electrical Inspector section spoke about these and other issues, and
how the member section can provide resources to
help these inspectors do their jobs.
One strategy has been the creation of a white
paper detailing how to conduct a residential electrical inspection. The document spells out how the
inspection process fits into the NFPA Fire & Life
Safety Ecosystem, lists tasks to be performed during
the inspection, and lists various references from
building codes. You can download the white paper
at nfpa.org/electricalinspections. To view video of
the roundtable discussion at the NFPA Conference,
visit NFPA Xchange.
Michael Wixted, public fire specialist at NFPA, on
the effort underway to consolidate 114 NFPA emergency response and responder safety standards
into 43 topical documents:
The consolidation project, which will begin in January, will take five years to complete and will combine
20-25 standards annually in their proper cycle.
The plan to merge related documents into
all-inclusive standards, with existing guidance
as separate chapters, is in response to concerns
voiced by both first responders and NFPA technical committee members over the past decade. By
consolidating this material, NFPA hopes to address
long-standing emergency services standards
conflicts and alleviate some of the planning and
scheduling difficulties that the committee members
who craft these standards have experienced over
the years. With fewer separate standard documents, technical committee members will be able
to work more cohesively on a variety of topics, and
emergency responders will have more convenient
access to a library of topic-specific content that is
critical for their roles.
In the months since the announcement of this plan,
NFPA has fielded many calls and emails. To answer
questions and to maintain an open dialogue, NFPA
is sharing the anticipated standards groupings and
draft timetable in a consolidation draft handout,
which you can view at nfpa.org/consolidationplan.
Throughout the project we will continually monitor
the impact and make changes as necessary.
Send your questions on the consolidation effort to
publicfire@nfpa.org.

GETT Y IMAGES

In Compliance Xchange

http://www.nfpa.org/electricalinspections http://www.nfpa.org/consolidationplan http://www.nfpa.org/community http://www.nfpa.org/70bchecklist

NFPA Journal - September/October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - September/October 2019