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: