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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).
NFPA 1600 Technical Committee, August 2008
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.
2010 Edition
NFPA 1600-2010 Edition "Report on Comments" Posted to NFPA's Website
Development of the 2010 edition of NFPA 1600, "Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs" is well underway with an expected publication date of April 2010. NFPA's Technical Committee on Emergency Management and Business Continuity completed work on the initial draft of the 2010 edition at its August 2008 meeting. This draft, known as the committee's "Report on Proposals," has been posted to the National Fire Protection Association's website.
The technical committee met in St. Louis March 17 - 19 to act on a record number of public comments. The committee's report (known as the "Report on Comments") developed during the St. Louis meeting has been posted to the NFPA website. The "Report on Comments" incorporates the technical committee's actions on the public and committee comments and it includes a "preprint" edition of the 2010 edition of NFPA 1600.
Listen to a 14 minute podcast discussion about the 2010 edition, the PS-PREP program, and resources to help develop, implement, and evaluate an emergency management and business continuity program.
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.
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 Incident Management," the
National Emergency Management Association, and the
International Association of Emergency
Managers. 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.
If you become aware of any documents that reference NFPA 1600, please email us with the details.
Resources
Links to download the current edition of NFPA 1600, view the 2004 edition, 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.