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NFPA 1600
Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management
and Business Continuity Programs
Introduction
NFPA 1600 "Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs" is published by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). NFPA is an American National Standards Institute Accredited Standards Developer (SDO). It was founded in 1896 and is an independent, not-for-profit, organization whose mission is to reduce the worldwide burden of fire and other hazards on the quality of life by providing and advocating consensus codes and standards, research, training, and education. NFPA has over 80,000 members in more than 100 nations.
The Technical Committee on Emergency Management and Business Continuity (formerly known as the Disaster Management Committee) was established by the NFPA Standards Council in January 1991. The committee was given the responsibility for developing documents relating to preparedness for, response to, and recovery from disasters resulting from natural, human, or technological events.
The technical committee includes a maximum of 36 members plus alternates and nonvoting members from the United States, Canada, and abroad. Members come from the private sector and public sector (federal, state, and local government). Private sector industry representatives include financial services, insurance, energy, health care, manufacturing, higher education, and consultants. Members represent DRI (Disaster Recovery Institute) International, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), NEMA's Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP), and the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM).
History of NFPA 1600
NFPA 1600 was first published in 1995 and titled "Recommended Practice for Disaster Management." The second edition of NFPA was adopted in 2000 in the form of a "standard." Nonmandatory language in the document ("should") was changed to mandatory language ("shall") throughout. This edition also incorporated a “total program approach” for disaster/emergency management and business continuity with common program elements, techniques, and processes.
The 2004 edition was published in April 2004. The standard continued to evolve, and it was reformatted to comply with NFPA's Manual of Style.
In January 2004 following the terrorist attacks of September 11, the 9/11 Commission investigated the preparedness of private sector organizations and asked the American National Standards Institute to develop a consensus on a "National Standard for Preparedness" for the private sector. The result of these sessions was ANSI's [Homeland Security Standards Panel] recommendation that the Commission endorse a voluntary National Preparedness Standard―NFPA 1600®. The 9/11 Commission formerly recommended the adoption and use of NFPA 1600 in Chapter 12 of the 9/11 Commission Report:
"We endorse the American National Standards Institute's recommended standard for private preparedness. We were encouraged by Secretary Tom Ridge's praise of the standard, and urge the Department of Homeland Security to promote its adoption. We also encourage the insurance and credit-rating industries to look closely at a company's compliance with the ANSI standard in assessing its insurability and creditworthiness. We believe that compliance with the standard should define the standard of care owed by a company to its employees and the public for legal purposes. Private-sector preparedness is not a luxury; it is a cost of doing business in the post-9/11 world. It is ignored at a tremendous potential cost in lives, money, and national security."
This recommendation has since been restated in two federals laws--Public 108-458 and most recently within Title IX of Public Law 110-53, which calls for voluntary certification of private sector preparedness programs. [click here for details on PL 110-53 and the voluntary program.]
The 2007 edition expanded the phases of emergency management and business continuity programs to identify both prevention and mitigation--not just mitigation. For a more complete review of the changes to the 2007 edition, check out "An Update on NFPA 1600" published in the DISASTER-RESOURCE Guide.
The 2010 edition of NFPA 1600 has been reordered and expanded. Chapter 4, Program Management, was expanded to emphasize the importance of leadership and commitment; includes new requirements for defining performance objectives; and includes new requirements for records management. Finance and administration was also moved to the program management chapter. The most noticeable change from the 2007 edition is the rewriting of Chapter 5 into four chapters addressing planning, implementation, testing and exercises, and program improvement. The ordering of these chapters follows a typical program development process and is consistent with “plan, do, check, act” or continuous improvement processes. Requirements for business impact analysis, which had been previously been covered under the heading of “risk assessment” are now a separate section within Chapter 5. Chapter 6, Implementation, includes a new section on employee assistance and support. Testing and exercising was expanded within the new Chapter 7, and evaluations and corrective action have been incorporated into a new Chapter 8 on program improvement.
Be sure to check our Annex C (self-assessment checklist to evaluate conformity with the standard), and Annex D, which provides a crosswalk between NFPA 1600 and management system program elements.
2013 Edition
Development of the 2013 edition of NFPA 1600, "Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs" is well underway with an expected publication date of January 2013. NFPA's Technical Committee on Emergency Management and Business Continuity met March 21-23 in Orlando to continue develop of the draft of the 2013 edition. Numerous task groups reported on their research and development activities. Additional task groups were formed during the meeting. NFPA is accepting public proposals for for new text or revisions to the 2010 edition. The committee progress can be monitored from the NFPA website, and the public can submit proposals and comments online.
Read additional details about the development of the 2013 edition in Continuity e-Guide's "Meet the Experts" column published on April 27, 2011.
Adoption of NFPA 1600
NFPA 1600 has been approved,
adopted, or endorsed by many different organizations including the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security under their category of "Standards
for Business Continuity and Emergency Preparedness." The
2010 edition has been endorsed by the
Association of Contingency Planners (ACP),
DRI International
(the Disaster Recovery Institute), and the
International
Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM). The 2007 edition
was endorsed by the
National Emergency Management Association, and the
IAEM.
Both the 2007 and 2010 editions of NFPA 1600 have been designated by
DHS for use as the criteria for voluntary certification of private
sector preparedness programs called for by Title IX of
Public Law 110-53. It has also been incorporated by reference into other
codes and standards.
NFPA 1600 has been approved as an American National Standard by the American National Standards Institute. NFPA 1600 has also received designation and certification as qualified anti-terrorism technology under the SAFETY Act.
If you become aware of any documents that reference NFPA 1600, please email us with the details.
Emergency Management Forum Focuses on NFPA 1600-2010 Edition
The
Emergency Management
Forum
hosted a one hour presentation and interactive discussion
on February 25, 2009. The topic was the current status of the 2010 edition of the National Fire
Protection Association's standard NFPA 1600. Highlights of the proposed
changes were presented by Donald L. Schmidt, chair of the NFPA's Technical
Committee on Emergency Management and Business Continuity. A
recording of the forum
(large Windows Media audio file), the
presentation slides
(Adobe PDF),
links to
related information, and a
transcript can be accessed from the
Emergency Management Forum's website.
Resources
Links to download the current edition of NFPA 1600, view prior editions, purchase the handbook, or inquire about the NFPA 1600 professional development on-site seminar can be found in the sidebar at the top right of this page. In addition, multiple presentations discussing NFPA 1600 can be found on our "news" page.
Self-Assessment Checklist
Click here to download a 7 page self-assessment tool based on the 2007 edition of NFPA 1600. Use it to evaluate your emergency management and business continuity program. This is not an "official" checklist, but it is more detailed than the checklist within NFPA 1600-2007. The checklist within NFPA 1600 is limited to text from the standard and Annex A.
If you need assistance with the evaluation, development, or implementation of your program, please click here.