NFPA Releases Active Shooter Response Standard
"The NFPA 3000 process, from start to finish, has been an exceptional example of emergency responders and other safety-focused practitioners swiftly coming together to provide invaluable perspective and address a significant threat in our world," NFPA President and CEO Jim Pauley said. "The proactive, integrated strategies recommended and defined in NFPA 3000 will go a long way in helping communities plan, respond, and recover from active shooter and hostile events."
The National Fire Protection Association has released NFPA 3000 (PS), Standard for an Active Shooter/Hostile Event Response Program. Developed with insights from law enforcement, fire, EMS, medical providers, facility managers, private industry, DHS, the CIA, FBI and others, the provisional standard will help communities cope with mass casualty incidents. It addresses unified planning and offers response and recovery guidance, as well as civilian and responder safety considerations, according to NFPA.
The 46-member Technical Committee responsible for NFPA 3000 is NFPA's largest startup committee ever. Committee members provided job-specific insight and real-world observations from mass killings at Mandalay Bay Resort, the Pulse Nightclub, Sandy Hook Elementary, the Sikh Temple, the Boston Marathon, and other less publicized events.
"The NFPA 3000 process, from start to finish, has been an exceptional example of emergency responders and other safety-focused practitioners swiftly coming together to provide invaluable perspective and address a significant threat in our world," NFPA President and CEO Jim Pauley said. "The proactive, integrated strategies recommended and defined in NFPA 3000 will go a long way in helping communities plan, respond, and recover from active shooter and hostile events."
NFPA said this was only the second time in its 122-year history that it has issued a provisional standard. Provisional standards are developed in an expedited process to address an emergency situation or other type of special circumstance.
After the Pulse Nightclub massacre in June 2016, Chief Otto Drozd of Orange County Fire in Florida requested that NFPA develop a standard to help authorities come together and create a well-defined, cohesive plan that works to minimize harm and maximize resiliency. NFPA responded by establishing the NFPA Technical Committee on Cross Functional Emergency Preparedness and Response. In mid-April, NFPA 3000 was issued by the NFPA Standards Council, making it the first consensus document related to active shooter and hostile events.