NFPA Journal - September/October 2020 - 46

point of contact
information from documents they
didn't even know existed. Hohengasser
recalled his first time wiring a commercial kitchen; he had his NEC book, but
that didn't offer him any insight into
how commercial kitchens function in
the real world-how, in the event of a
fire, the kitchen's exhaust fan must turn
on and the intake fan off. "It makes total
sense, because you don't want to continue to feed a fire and we want to get
it out," he said. "But from an electrical
perspective, my brain wasn't thinking
that way, and those requirements don't
live in the electrical code-they live in
NFPA 96, Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial
Cooking Operations. That's an example
where an installer in the field could use
NFPA LiNK to find the language for that
situation."
Ayer agreed. "NFPA has hundreds of
standards," he said. "And the truth is,
even seasoned fire and life safety professionals aren't aware of them all. With
LiNK, you'll be able to one day look up
a task-based topic, and it'll provide you
with all that additional information you
might not have had in the past. I think
that is a tremendous benefit."
Another benefit of the platform, Ayer
added, will be the ease with which
new terms can be added to the NFPA
LiNK database and discovered by
users-something that wasn't so easy
in the past. "As new terms like 'cybersecurity' and 'wireless technologies' have
emerged, the codes have lagged behind
in adopting them, and when they did,
it just made the code books longer
and more complex and harder to find
things in," Ayer said. "LiNK will help
with that."

Eyeing the future

During the August 4 NFPA LiNK
reveal, Pauley was quick to note that
while this moment represents a sea
change for NFPA and the larger world
of fire, life, and electrical safety, it
doesn't spell the end of traditional
methods of conveying information-at
least for now. "The books aren't going
away," he said. "If you still want a book,
you can get one." But, he added, NFPA
LiNK "will bring that book to life in
ways you can't imagine."

Already, people like Pauley and
Hohengasser are imagining what the
future of the tool could hold. Right
now, they say, the possibilities seem
endless, limited only by the boundaries
of technology. What if a user could take
a photograph or video of a room and
instantly see all of the code language
that applies to that space? It's an ambi-

"THE WORLD IS
CHANGING. IT'S
MOVING TO A DIGITAL
PLATFORM. IT'S
PAPERLESS. SO THIS
IS GOING TO FIT RIGHT
IN AND BE A GAME
CHANGER AS FAR AS
HOW PEOPLE INTERACT
WITH NFPA CODES AND
STANDARDS."
tious idea, Hohengasser said, but it's
typical of the kinds of features under
consideration by the NFPA team that
will continue to develop the application
for years to come. "We're thinking big,
we're thinking further down the road,"
he said. "If we can build something and
it brings value, we'll build it."
Although NFPA publishes hundreds
of codes and standards, few approach
the popularity and reach of the NEC,
which is why that document was
selected for the rollout of NFPA LiNK.
The code is adopted in all 50 states,
and the 2020 edition alone incorporated 3,700 public inputs and nearly
2,000 comments. The first version of
NFPA LiNK will include the 2020 NEC,
as well as the 2011, 2014, and 2017 editions of the code.
In the fall, NFPA 70E, Standard for
Electrical Safety in the Workplace, will
be added to the platform, followed
by several more documents over the
winter, including NFPA 1, Fire Code;
NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®; and NFPA
99, Health Care Facilities Code.
Much of the future development
of NFPA LiNK will be driven by user
feedback, Hohengasser said. "If we find

a lot of people are having the same
problem as they apply NFPA codes
and standards, we'll be able to develop
features and functions aimed at
addressing that problem," he added.
The future of NFPA LiNK will also
likely be shaped by a new generation of
safety professionals-the kind of audience that such a tool can help attract in
the first place. "My son's 22, just graduated from college, and when I would
ask him where his textbooks were, he
would hold up his phone," said Andy
Jenks, vice president of marketing and
digital experience for NFPA, in a presentation on NFPA LiNK to association
staff earlier this year. "That's how he
gets his information. When we think
of younger audiences, something like
this is critical to how they look up and
absorb information."
Attracting younger generations
to codes and standards information
through NFPA LiNK could also benefit the industries with whom NFPA is
involved. Electrical industry groups
like the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers have for years voiced
concerns over an aging workforce of
electrical professionals and diminishing
pools of young people to replace them.
A 2018 article in Electrical Contractor magazine reported that part
of the problem was a misconception
that electrical work is nothing more
than manual labor, when in reality
it's becoming more technology-driven
every day. "It's helpful to incorporate
technology into the business-for example, building virtual reality headsets
into training-and 'green up' the trade
to make it more attractive to young
people," Stephen Hughes, director of a
market research firm, told the publication. NFPA LiNK is an important tool
in attracting tech-minded young people
to the industry.
NFPA LiNK will be a huge asset for
younger generations entering technical
fields who grew up with technologies
like Google and YouTube, Hohengasser
said. "They're used to having information delivered instantly," he said.
"That's what NFPA LiNK offers."
ANGELO VERZONI is staff writer for
NFPA Journal.

46 | NFPA JOURNAL * S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2 0 2 0

LiNK feature V4 DCS FINAL.indd 46

8/26/20 11:31 AM
NFPA Journal - September/October 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - September/October 2020
