OUR PLAIN ENGLISH APPROACH

NFPA 1600 is full of wisdom. However, this wisdom is concealed through the use of densely packed prose and convoluted compound sentences. Because the standard is often hard to understand, we’ve tried to identify and highlight each tiny piece of good sense. Instead of hiding a good idea inside a long winded and poorly constructed sentence, we have pushed it out into the daylight for all to see.

We all know that emergency and disaster management plans and procedures must be clear and easy to understand so that they can be easily implemented during a crisis. This is certainly an important first principle. But if this is so, why shouldn’t the same principle apply to the standards that govern the development of such plans and procedures?

In order to make the NFPA 1600 standard easier to understand, we have translated it into plain ordinary English. In the course of doing so, we’ve tried to comply with the following rules:

• Write clearly.

• Use plain English.

• Empathize with the reader.

• Construct simple sentences.

• Preserve the original meaning.

• Include every single idea.

The above list points to our particular definition of quality. For us, good quality technical writing is clear, plain, easy to understand, and always empathizes with the reader. And a good quality translation preserves the original meaning and covers every aspect of the original material. This is our definition of quality. These are the characteristics that define the quality of our publication.