Enterprise Approach

NASFM's Enterprise Projects

The US Department of Transportation coined the term "Enterprise" to describe the way experts from industry, government and academia can sit down together and solve big problems, motivated by their commitment to public safety. NASFM has adopted the Enterprise approach to address challenges covering a range of issues in which public safety plays a key, if not central, role.

Our Enterprise Team creates and manages the public-private partnerships necessary to the Enterprise approach to safety problem-solving. Our Enterprise Team leaders are:

James Narva, former Wyoming State Fire Marshal, culminating more than two decades in fire protection. Mr. Narva served on NASFM's Board of Directors for two years and was President of the Cheyenne Firefighters Local #279 for nearly 6 years in addition to representing the Federated Firefighters of Wyoming legislatively.

Safe Energy and Transportation

For more information, go to Programs

The challenge: Gasoline, diesel, natural gas, hydrogen and ethanol are hazardous materials. The safe production, transportation, storage, sale and use of these fuels are extraordinary challenges for the affected industries, insurance carriers, federal regulators and state and local permitting officials. The scope of this challenge is enormous: 800,000 motor carrier hazardous materials shipments on U.S. roads every day -most are motor fuels. More than half of 20,328 hazardous materials transportation incidents reported in the U.S. in 2006 involved flammable-combustible liquid.

The transition from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources adds layers of complexity to this challenge. How will we train and equip 1.2 million firefighters and 800,000 law enforcement officers about the risks of hybrids, ethanol and other biofuels, and hydrogen? How will we equip an estimated 150,000 state and local code enforcement officials to issue permits for the equipment needed to make, store and sell these new fuels?

Major Enterprise Projects:

Pipeline Safety: Emergency responder safety training, identification of high consequence areas, third-party accident prevention, public education and other measures that encourage local cooperation to ensure the safety of natural gas pipelines.

LNG Safety: Information and guidance for emergency responders in communities that are working with the federal authorities and energy companies on planned and approved Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) Terminals.

Alternative Fuels: Emergency responder training, code enforcement guidance, data collection and public education to help energy producers, automakers, insurance and technology companies, federal regulators, state and local permitting authorities, mass transit authorities, consumer interest groups manage the safest possible transition from fossil fuels to hydrogen and other alternative fuels.

The following companies, agencies and institutions have contributed funding, experts and other resources to NASFM's Safe Energy and Transportation Enterprise projects.

AES...Air Products...American Gas Association...American Public Transportation Association...California Fuel Cell Partnership...Chevron...Common Ground Alliance...Compressed Gas Association...Council for Liquified Natural Gas...FM Global...General Motors Corporation...Honda Motor Company...ICL Industrial Products (formerly Dead Sea Bromine)...International Codes Council...Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute...National Fire Protection Association...National Institute of Standards and Technology...National Transportation Safety Board...NextEnergy...Plug Power...Shell Hydrogen...Southwest Research...Supresta...Toyota...University of Missouri...University of Montana...U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Identification Board...U.S. Department of Energy...U.S. Environmental Protection Agency...U.S. Department of Transportation...United Technologies Corporation...West Virginia University.

Residential Safety

For more information, go to Mission: Residential Fire Protection

The challenge: The vast majority of fire deaths occur in the home. Residential fires are most commonly ignited by the careless use of cigarettes, small open flames such as candles, cooking implements, electrical defects, malfunctioning space heaters, juvenile fire setting and arson. Any of these ignition sources is sufficient to start a fast spreading, highly toxic fire in mattresses and upholstered furniture containing highly combustible polyurethane foam, consumer electronics and computer equipment with flammable outer housings, clothing, toys and other the virtually thousands of other products containing plastics. Nothing would have a greater impact on the residential fire problem than fire sprinklers, but few communities have agreed to require them and even fewer homebuilders offer sprinklers as an option.

The challenge is not just preventing fires, but preventing fires so that people are not harmed in other ways. For example, flame retardant chemicals are commonly used to enable plastics to meet fire safety standards. Nearly a decade ago, NASFM and the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued a joint statement recognizing the importance of these chemicals but insisting that the producers of flame retardants demonstrate that their products do not pose significant harm to human health. Sometimes, steps taken to protect the environment may present an unreasonable risk to human health. For example, fire safety officials are not pleased that explosive propane is now used in paint spray cans as an alternative to the CFCs that harm the ozone layer.

Major Enterprise Projects

The best ultimate solution: NASFM is committed to the prompt adoption of automatic fire sprinkler requirements in the International Residential Code, which is adopted by states and municipalities nationwide. But, even when these requirements are in force, they will apply only to new housing.

The major causes of residential fire deaths: Cigarette and candle ignitions of mattresses and upholstered furniture have been the causes of the greatest loss of life from fires in the home. State fire marshals and their allies have been successful in persuading state legislatures in nearly one-third of all states to follow the State of New York's lead in requiring "Reduced Ignition Strength Cigarettes." Candle manufacturers have initiated promising voluntary fire safety standards. New federal mattress fire safety requirements went into effect this past January. The upholstered furniture industry's voluntary fire safety standards need work - ten American die on average each week in upholstered furniture fires. No doubt, fewer people will be killed in these fires as "reduced ignition propensity cigarettes" enter the market, but the highly flammable polyurethane foam in upholstered sofas and chairs remains the most deadly product in today's homes.

Children: No parent should be made to feel irresponsible for not maintaining 24-hour surveillance of their youngsters. A child might experiment just once with fire and ignite a fire that kills an entire household. Children are most vulnerable to fire when unsupervised in their own rooms - and manufacturers have a special responsibility for the fire safety of the products they make especially for children. It should not be possible to ignite a "boombox," an inexpensive ink-jet printer or a video game controller with something as small as a birthday candle.

The following companies, agencies and institutions have contributed funding, experts and other resources to NASFM's Residential Safety Enterprise Projects.

Albemarle Chemical...Alliance of the Polyurethane Industries...American Fire Sprinkler Association...American Fire Safety Council...American Plastic Council...Bromine Science and Environment Forum...California Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation...Chemtura...Dell Computer...Eaton...Elk...General Electric...H-P Compaq...IBM/Lenovo...IKEA...International Sleep Products Association...National Fire Sprinkler Association...National Fire Protection Association...National Institute of Standards and Technology...Polyone...Square D...Society of Toxicology...Sleep Products Safety Council...SP Swedish Testing and Research...Tyco...Underwriters Laboratories...U.S. Environmental Protection Agency...Federal Emergency Management Agency...World Health Organization's Center for Environmental Toxicology.

Catastrophic Fire Prevention

For more information, go to Mission: Catastrophic Protection

The challenge: Some fires move so quickly that scores and sometimes hundreds of lives may be lost in a matter of minutes. Occupants may be unable to flee some fires. A fire on board a passenger aircraft in flight can kill hundreds of people within minutes. In 2003, 31 elderly and largely immobile patients at nursing homes in Nashville, TN, and Hartford, CT, died before they could be rescued.

Even when people are physically able to escape, some may die. Rhode Island's The Station Nightclub Fire on the evening of Thursday, February 20, 2003, was the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history, killing 100 people and injuring more than 200 with nightmarish speed. A fire in a crowded bulk retail store on Christmas Eve would cause unimagineable losses. Federal authorities warn emergency responders of the potential collapse of truss-supported roofs and floors commonly used in health care facilities and schools.

State and local code enforcement officials, the Model National Codes, federal regulators, airlines and the owners, managers and occupants of high-risk occupancies have a solemn responsibility to make these places safer.

Major Enterprise Projects

Improved building and fire codes, improved code enforcement. State and local fire and building code officials bear a special responsibility to ensure that the buildings in their community are constructed and maintained in ways that meet the nation's minimum acceptable levels of safety, and to encourage building owners and managers to go beyond what is legally required. The Safe Buildings Coordinating Council was created by NASFM and is now an independent organization of state and local building and fire code officials committed to improved codes and knowledgeable and effective code enforcement.

Hazardous materials in high-risk occupancies. Invariably, hazardous materials enter high-risk settings. Airline crews are understandably nervous about pallets of potentially defective flammable lithium ion batteries in the cargo hold of a passenger jet. Volatile pool chemicals, ammunition and motor fuels inadvertently may be stored in a warehouse or even on a sales floor of a large retailer. Health care facilities take special precautions with canisters of oxygen and other compressed gases.

The following companies, agencies and institutions have contributed funding, experts and guidance to NASFM's Catastrophic Fire Prevention Enterprise Projects.

American Fire Sprinkler Association...Air Line Pilots Association...Chep...Firestop Contractors International Association...FM Global...General Electric...Grace Construction...International Codes Council...National Council of State Building Codes and Standards...National Fire Protection Association...National Fire Sprinkler Association...National Institute of Standards and Technology...National Transportation Safety Board...Portable Rechargeable Batteries Association...Underwriters Laboratories...U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Identification Board...U.S. Department of Homeland Security...U.S. Department of Transportation