december2022january2023 - 16

Industry Expert Column
What Airports Need to
Know about NFPA 407
The National Fire Protection Association's Standard for Aircraft
Fuel Servicing has been updated to reduce environmental
risks and liability incidents while improving operator safety.
BY DAVID ZUMBAUGH
T
he National Fire Protection
Association (NFPA) has
updated regulatory requirements
for aviation fill stands (fuel
racks) and refuelers (tank trucks) to
improve safety for operators, reduce
risks of environmental release like
fuel spills and eliminate liability incidents
such as fires or human injury.
While 407 covers many facets of fuel
operations, the focus of this article is
on three aspects. The current requirements
include:
* Two-level overfill protection on refuelers
and fill stands (positive shutdown
of pumping)
* Bonding of refuelers to the fill stand
to prevent sparks or electric arcs in a
potentially combustible atmosphere
* An operational deadman switch to
ensure constant human monitoring
of the refueler and fill stand during
the fueling process
Facility upgrades might be required
to meet these standards with a completion
deadline of June 2023. Depending on
the location of the aviation facility, an
appropriate " authority having jurisdiction, "
will be in contact with operators
to verify regulatory compliance. Various
organizations administer commercial
fuel operations and provide oversight of
facilities - the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA), local fire marshals, airport
authorities, state weights and measures
and even insurance companies.
The NFPA began developing aviation
fuel standards for airports beginning in
1966. There have been 15 revisions to the
specific regulatory rules and language,
assessing adverse incidents and the
application of evolving technologies to
address safety, efficiency and potential
environmental issues.
With the tremendous growth of flight
resources for travelers in the last 50
years, the NFPA assembles a " technical
committee " to review avenues to pursue
improvements for the fueling process
while keeping investment dollars and
cost of ownership in mind. These committees
are established every five years
and are composed of interested parties
and industry representatives.
There is a formal, professional process
and is outlined at - NFPA.org.
" The NFPA standards development
Scully Signal Company's Intellitrol2
can provide bonding, overfill and
deadman switch in a single rack
monitoring unit.
16 || Ground Support Worldwide || December 2022/January 2023
process encourages public participation
in the development of its standards.
All NFPA standards are revised and
updated every three to five years, in
revision cycles that begin twice each
year. Normally a standards cycle takes
approximately two years to complete.
Each revision cycle proceeds according
to a published schedule, which includes
final dates for each stage in the standards
development process. The four fundamental
steps in the NFPA standards
development process are: public input,
public comment, NFPA technical meeting
(tech session), standards council action
(appeals and issuance of standard), " the
outline reads.
SCULLY SIGNAL COMPANY
http://www.NFPA.org
december2022january2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of december2022january2023
