I want to start a discussion forum on the use and application of NFPA standards on Canadian industrial fire brigades. I would encourage your comments and anecdotal experiences as well would appreciate it if this could get some wide distribution among your community.

I have long held the position that even though the standards are not referenced in federal or provincial regulations that by default the NFPA standards become the industry best practices to which we benchmark our operations.  I believe this because provincial regulations cannot envision every scenario and regulate all activities. As well there are equivalent Canadian or international standards that would cover the same areas - "If you are not following NFPA standards what standard are you following?". Furthermore we do have examples for instance in the nuclear industry in Canada where the NFPA standards are referenced in regulation and a condition for licensing. Based on these points I believe the standards could be recognized as the industry benchmark. They would therefore be the "big stick" that workplace safety and other regulators would look around to hit you with.

That said the problem is trying to convince industry executives that the funding, training and commitment to comply with these standards is needed. From your experiences have you had any success? If so share how you have done this. Are you currently facing hurdles? If so, what type of hurdles?

Attached is a Power Point overview of the NFPA standards. Also is a recent NFPA Fire Data Summary on fires in US Industrial Occupancies. Finally the third document is a 2008 review of some of the existing training programs and resources for industrial fie brigades. Any feedback on these would be appreciated.