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NFPA Ambulance Committee - First Meeting - June 17th, 2009

In case you missed it, NFPA recently formed a committee to write standards for ambulance design. Why? Well, partly because they can. Partly because they were overwhelmingly successful in writing a consensus standard for fire apparatus design (NFPA 1901 - 2009 version), partly because 62% of fire U.S. fire services responses in 2007 were for medical aid calls (59% of fire departments provide EMS), and partly because the feds want out of the ambulance standard writing business. Firstly, as a member of the committee, I'm required to mention that every word you read here is my informal opinion, not the opinion of NFPA. So there.

The Committee, following the usual NFPA format, will ultimately consist of 30 members divided evenly into 10 representatives from manufacturers, 10 from users, and 10 from regulators. The operant words, "open" and "fair" define the NFPA process (http://www.nfpa.org/). What happened at the first meeting? Well, imagine a couple dozen folks from the previously mentioned groups sitting in a room together - any room, anywhere. You could cut the tension with a knife, err - make that a chainsaw. So there were a few presentations: ambulance crash data (or lack thereof), history of federal government ambulance specifications, development process of the NFPA 1901 standard, resources available from NFPA, and the standards development process. Lunchtime.

First problem: define ambulance. Couldn't do it. Created a subcommittee. Next question: what's out there already? Probably the most popular are the federal KKK-A-1822 standard and the National Truck Equipment Association (NTEA) Ambulance Manufacturers Division (AMD) standard (2007 version). Why reinvent the wheel? Another subcommittee. Merge KKK and AMD with the NFPA 1901 format and let's see where the cards lie.

Not a bad start. In fact, the initial nervousness that some cockamamie standard was sure to be concocted that would blow the socks off the EMS world quite obviously was not on any member's radar. Phew! People actually seemed to leave reassured that consensus is within reach, maybe more within reach than it was for writing fire apparatus design standards. There were common goals amongst the players and now a sense of purpose that will lend itself to a deliberate path. The two subcommittees will report by the end of August, probably on a phone conference. Then the real work will begin. Timeline? Anyone's guess. Don't hold your breath. You'll be cyanotic.

Mike McEvoy
EMS Editor
Fire Engineering magazine
(and NFPA Ambulance Committee member)

Labels: ambulance, EMS, Mike McEvoy, NFPA, standard

posted by Mike McEvoy
6/17/2009 11:04:00 PM

1 Comments:

L Stewart said...: Mike

I’m glad to see that the new NFPA project to develop a standard for ambulances is generating enough interest for you to write an article. Like with anything new there is always skepticism about venturing into unchartered territory. I’m also pleased that you are taking the time to participate in the committee process and helping to explain what the new NFPA standard intends to accomplish.

The NFPA Standards Council ensures that all technical committees have a balance of interests, with no interest representing more than one-third. As you point out in your article, committees have a maximum of 30 principle members to ensure the committee is a manageable size. The NFPA recognizes nine different interest groups on our committees. For committees with full rosters of 30 members, no more than 10 of those members can be from any one interest group, manufacturer or otherwise. Usually our committees do not divide out at 10-10-10, and the ambulance committee includes representatives of 8 of the 9 interest groups.

NFPA’s standard development process is an open process. Anyone can submit proposals and comments, and every one of those proposals and comments will be considered by the committee. Public participation is an essential part of what we do. Many of NFPA’s standards have addressed challenging and sometimes very controversial topics such as fire department occupational safety and health (NFPA 1500 in 1987), and organization and deployment of fire service (NFPA 1710/NFPA 1720 in 2001). Despite the challenges and controversies, NFPA’s consensus process has a track record of delivering an indispensible, accepted standard for the fire service.

NFPA’s process works best when everyone affected participates and contributes. NFPA’s standards development process depends upon experts and others with technical knowledge to share their opinion and experience.

I am confident the NFPA Standard for Ambulances will be a important document for all fire and emergency services delivering EMS. For the best end product I encourage everyone in the fire and EMS community to participate and challenge the NFPA Technical Committee for Ambulances with your ideas. NFPA will keep everyone up to date on the process through NFPA’s Fire Service Today blog at http://nfpa.typepad.com/fireservicetoday.; Wed Aug 05, 03:56:00 PM EDT

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