NFPA 1600 2007

AN INTRODUCTION

NFPA 1600 is a Standard on Disaster Management, Emergency
Management, and Business Continuity Management Programs.
NFPA is the National Fire Protection Association.

     
 

The NFPA Standards Council established the Disaster
Management Committee in January 1991. Its mandate was
to develop a document that defines recommended disaster
management practices
. This work was completed and formally
approved in 1995 by the NFPA membership during its Annual
Meeting. At this point, NFPA was not yet an official standard.
It was merely a recommended practice.

This changed in 2000 when the NFPA 1600 document was
elevated from a
recommended practice to a standard. At the
same time, the NFPA standard was expanded beyond disaster
management
to include both emergency management and
business continuity management. NFPA 1600 was again
updated in 2004. The 2004 edition renumbered and refined
some of the sections and definitions. In addition, a section
on Mutual Aid was added.

The current updated version of NFPA 1600 came into effect
on December 20, 2006 and is formally referred to as the 2007
Edition
. The standard has changed quite a bit. A new section on
Incident Prevention (5.4) has been added in addition to several
new subsections and five new definitions. In addition, most of
the old text has been revised and rewritten. As a result, we
believe that the new standard is a major update.

 
     
  NFPA 1600 is a standard for:
  • Disaster management programs
  • Emergency management programs
  • Business continuity management programs

However, instead of asking you to establish three separate
programs, NFPA developed this standard to help you establish
a single integrated program. The result is simply called “the
program”
, according to NFPA. We’ll call it the NFPA 1600
Program
, in the absence of a more informative alternative.

Of course, depending on your particular background, you may
choose to call your NFPA 1600 Program a Disaster Management
Program
, an Emergency Management Program, a Business
Continuity Management Program
, or something else.

 
     
  The purpose of the NFPA 1600 Standard is to help the disaster
management, emergency management, and business continuity
communities to manage disasters and emergencies. Its purpose
is to help organizations and jurisdictions to:
  • Prevent disasters and emergencies

  • Mitigate disasters and emergencies

  • Prepare for disasters and emergencies

  • Respond to disasters and emergencies

  • Recover from disasters and emergencies

The NFPA Standard can be used to:

  • Establish a new program

  • Evaluate an existing program

The NFPA Standard applies to:

  • Public disaster management, emergency
    management, and business continuity programs

  • Private disaster management, emergency
    management, and business continuity programs

  • Not-for-profit disaster management, emergency
    management, and business continuity programs

 
     
  NFPA 1600 2007 can be used to deal
with the following kinds of hazards:

1. Hazards caused by nature

  • Geological hazards include earthquakes, tsunamis,
    landslides, mudslides, sinkholes, volcanic eruptions,
    glacial avalanches, iceberg dangers, and so on.
  • Meteorological hazards include storms, floods, droughts,
    famines, avalanches, forest fires, grass fires, tidal waves,
    flash floods, lightning strikes, hurricanes, cyclones,
    tornados, wind storms, sand storms, hail storms,
    geomagnetic storms, snow storms, ice storms, heat
    waves, very cold temperatures, ice, sleet, and so on.

  • Biological hazards include diseases, epidemics,
    infestations, insect bites, animal attacks, and so on.

2. Hazards caused by humans

  • Accidental hazards include fires, explosions, explosive
    materials, corrosive materials, radioactive materials,
    flammable liquids, flammable gases, flammable solids,
    utility failures, power disruptions, communication
    interruptions, energy shortages, fuel shortages, food
    shortages, resource deficiencies, air pollution, water
    pollution, contamination, poison, vehicle accidents,
    building collapses, structural failures, dam failures,
    dike failures, economic collapse, hyperinflation,
    misinformation, and so on.
  • Intentional hazards include wars, riots, violence,
    public unrest, labor unrest, mass hysteria, political
    insurrection, sabotage, hijackings, military attacks,
    nuclear attacks, radiological attacks, biological attacks,
    electromagnetic pulses, explosions, theft, fraud, arson,
    vandalism, product defects, product contamination,
    disinformation, and so on.

3. Hazards caused by technology

  • Technological hazards include computer failures,
    equipment malfunctions, software bugs, utility
    failures, power disruptions, energy shortages,
    telecommunications breakdowns, and so on.
 
     
 

JULY 2004: 9/11 COMMISSION SUPPORTS NFPA 1600!

On July 22, 2004 the 9/11 Commission published its final report.
It recommends that the NFPA 1600 Standard be adopted by the
private sector. The 9/11 Commission further recommends that
insurance and credit-rating industries look closely at a company's
compliance with the NFPA Standard in assessing its insurability
and creditworthiness. The Commission believes that compliance
with the NFPA Standard should define the standard of care owed
by a company to its employees and the public for legal purposes.*
*
Source
: The 9/11 Commission Report, page 398.

 
     
  AUGUST 2007: U.S. LAW SUPPORTS THE USE OF NFPA 1600!

On August 3, 2007 H.R.1, Implementing Recommendations of the
9/11 Commission Act of 2007
was signed by the President and
became Public Law No. 110-53. One subsection on Private Sector
Preparedness
encourages the use of business continuity and
disaster recovery standards such as NFPA 1600. It also calls for
the development of a private sector preparedness accreditation
and certification program. Such a program would be used to
certify the preparedness of private sector organizations.

 
 

For a detailed overview of NFPA 1600, please see
NFPA 1600 2007 Translated into Plain English

 

 
CONTACT INFORMATION
 
Praxiom Research Group Limited
9619 - 100A Street, Edmonton,
Alberta, T5K 0V7, Canada
Phone: (780)461-4514
info@praxiom.org
 

NFPA 1600

NFPA 1600 NAVIGATION GUIDE

       
How to Order Our Products Our Prices Our Guarantee
       
Home Page Table of Contents Our Customers Our Supporters
       
OTHER NFPA 1600 WEB PAGES
 
Introduction to NFPA
 
Overview of NFPA 1600 2007
 
NFPA 1600 2007 in Plain English
 
NFPA 1600 2007 Audit Process
 
NFPA 1600 Plain English Definitions
 

How to Perform an NFPA 1600 Risk Assessment

 
How to Develop an NFPA 1600 Mitigation Strategy
 
How to Conduct NFPA 1600 Business Continuity Planning
 
How to Develop an NFPA 1600 Corrective Action Procedure
 
Business Continuity Management using the NFPA 1600 Standard
 
Emergency Management using the NFPA 1600 Standard
 
Disaster Management using the NFPA 1600 Standard
 

Our Plain English Approach to NFPA 1600

 

NFPA 1600 2007 is an Emergency Management,
Disaster Management, and Business Continuity Standard

 

RELATED RESOURCE LIBRARIES

ISO IEC 27001 Information Security Resource Library

ISO IEC 27002 Information Security Resource Library

ISO 22000 2005 Food Safety Management Library

OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Library

ISO 14001 Environmental Management Resource Library

 

Legal Restrictions on the Use of this Page
Thank you for visiting this page. You are, of course, welcome to view our
 material as often as you wish, free of charge. And as long as you keep intact
 all copyright notices, you are also welcome to print or make one copy of this
 page for your own personal, noncommercial, home use.   But, you are not
 legally authorized to print or produce additional copies, or to copy and paste
 any of our material onto another web site.  If you would like to purchase our
 material, please contact our Sales Desk. Our staff would be very pleased to
 take your order or to answer any questions you might have.

Copyright © 2005 - 2007 by Praxiom Research Group Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability
The publisher and authors have used their best efforts in designing and
  developing this electronic publication. We make no representation or warranties
  with respect to accuracy or completeness of the contents of this publication and
  specifically disclaim any implied warranties or merchantability or fitness for any
  particular purpose and shall in no event be liable for any loss of profit or any
  other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental,
  consequential, or other damages.

Copyright © 2005 - 2008 by Praxiom Research Group Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Updated on August 4.  On the Web since May 25, 1997.