Find news and information for the executive corporate security director, CSO, facility manager and assets protection manager on issues of policy, products, incidents, risk management, threat assessments and preparedness.
Issue link: http://sdi.epubxp.com/i/941796
12 Security Dealer & Integrator / www.SecurityInfoWatch.com February 2018 Association Report / Industry associations in the news SECURITY WATCH BY JOEL GRIFFIN, EDITOR, SECURITYINFOWATCH.COM The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is fast-track- ing a new standard designed to better prepare first respond- ers, private sector organizations and citizens in general on how to respond to active shooters and other hostile events. The move to process the NFPA 3000 Standard for Preparedness and Response to Active Shooter and/or Hostile Events as a provisional standard means it will be available for use as early as April. It is only the second time in the NFPA's history that provisional standard sta- tus has been authorized by the NFPA Standards Council. The decision to fast-track the stan- dard was spurred by the recent string of mass casualty shootings across the U.S., beginning with the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, followed by mass shootings in Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs, Texas, late last year. The three shootings accounted for more than half of all casualties due to active shooter inci- dents in the U.S., from 2000 to 2013. Why the NFPA? While most associate the NFPA as an organization solely focused on the development of fire safety codes, John Montes, Emergency Services Specialist for NFPA who serves as the staff liaison for the tech- nical committee tasked with devel- oping the standard, says the orga- nization is actually well-positioned to develop a standard around active shooter response given its ability to bring all relevant parties to the table. "We are the best suited to do it – we have a tried-and-true process and we have the bandwidth for it," Montes explains. "We develop standards that are not just for fire – for example, the National Electrical Code (NEC) and Healthcare Facilities Code are non-fire documents. I know we have fire in our name, but we have an inter- est in reducing unnec- essary loss of life and injuries due to hazards. That's really our mis- sion, and this standard is in line with that." Montes says when the NFPA sought initial public comments on whether or not it should pursue the standard, they received more than 100 comments, with 97 percent in favor of the idea. NFPA also received 103 applications from people who wanted to serve on the committee. The standard is being developed by a 46-member NFPA Technical Committee, which features represen- tatives from all of the various disci- plines involved in mitigating active shooter and other threats – including law enforcement, fire, EMS, federal agencies, healthcare professionals, universities and private security. Montes empha- sizes that the stan- dard is written by the committee through a consensus building process and not by the NFPA itself. "A lot of people think the NFPA writes (the standard) but we don't – we are the shepherds of the process," he says. Specifically, NFPA 3000 seeks to establish a common framework around three areas of active shooter and/or hostile event response: Establishing a unified command structure; planning for an integrated response with other agencies and organizations; and how to prepare for an effective recovery effort. Montes says the standard's goal is to establish minimum require- ments for everyone involved in active shooter and hostile event mitiga- tion without addressing local tac- tics, which can vary greatly between agencies and organizations. "There is so much variation they could never standardize those tactics," he says. The standard is currently open for input from the public until Feb. 23. The technical committee will subse- quently meet in March with the goal of having the provisional standard ready by April. Once it is released as a provisional standard, Montes says NFPA 3000 will then go into the organization's typical standard cycle, being opened again to public feedback with a 24-month revision process. Visit www.nfpa.org for details. ■ NFPA Fast-Tracks Standard for Active Shooter Response Private security, first responders and other professionals collaborate to craft the organization's provisional standard Read the full article and analysis: www.SecurityInfoWatch.com/12392331 © BigStock Montes