For the past two years, NFPA LiNK® has provided professionals with an interactive digital alternative to hardcopy codebooks, offering access to NFPA® codes and standards on the user’s favorite device. On May 15, NFPA LiNK will be adding 25 additional codes and standards within the organization’s vast scope of publications, including the latest edition of NFPA 70E®, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace®. For those unfamiliar with NFPA 70E, this standard establishes requirements for safe work practices to protect personnel by reducing exposure to major electrical hazards. NFPA 70E helps companies and employees avoid workplace injuries and fatalities due to shock, electrocution, arc flash, and arc blast, and assists in complying with OSHA regulations. Along with the National Electrical Code® and NFPA 70B, Standard for Electrical Equipment Maintenance, NFPA 70E aids professionals across the globe in maintaining electrical safety. In addition to the 2024 edition of NFPA 70E, new editions of 24 other NFPA documents will publish in NFPA LiNK on the 15th, including: ·       NFPA 30, Flammable and Combustible Liquids Code ·       NFPA 96, Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations ·       NFPA 90A, Standard for the Installation of Air-Conditioning and Ventilating Systems ·       NFPA 556, Guide on Methods for Evaluating Fire Hazard to Occupants of Passenger Road Vehicles ·       NFPA 820, Standard for Fire Protection in Wastewater Treatment and Collection Facilities With staffing shortages plaguing the industry and valuable time at all-time low, all workers in the electrical, fire, and life safety space need to be able to readily access the most up-to-date codes and standards. No longer can individuals rely on a single team member to carry a codebook holding valuable notes in its margins and earmarks on commonly cited pages. It’s more important than ever for stakeholders to collaborate, share resources, and plan accordingly while in the design and build process. Innovative resources like NFPA LiNK are at the heart of enabling this productive way of work, offering: ·       Notetaking features for individuals to add personal notes and collaborate with others, share code sections, and work across teams ·       Interactive Change Indicators that make it easier to identify and understand changes and deletions made from edition to edition ·       Bookmarks to save custom collections for quick and easy reference ·       Navigation tools that enable users to bookmark text and quickly locate information ·       NFPA DiRECT®, a situational navigation tool to help professionals identify codes related to the unique projects they encounter Interested in learning more? NFPA recently debuted a supplementary NFPA LiNK YouTube channel, complementing the platform by providing users with tutorials and quick-start video guides for optimizing NFPA LiNK, as well as content discussing industry-specific codes, classifications, and requirements for electrical, fire, and life safety. For more information about NFPA LiNK, or to sign up for a free trial, visit nfpa.org/LiNK.

Did you catch the first free one-hour webinar educating users on our revolutionary digital platform, NFPA LiNK®? If not, don’t worry, it won’t be the last. At the March session, hosted by me, prospective and current NFPA LiNK subscribers from all over the world gathered virtually for an interactive discussion. I presented a complete demonstration of all features and content within NFPA LiNK followed by a Q&A session. Below are some key features that were demonstrated for our webinar attendees: Complete access to all NFPA codes and standards: NFPA LiNK houses the latest edition of every NFPA® code and standard, as well as a growing library of legacy editions for the organization’s most referenced publications. Subscribers also receive early access to newly released editions and can favorite their most cited publications for easy reference.  Enhanced publication navigation: Once a publication is open, users can view all enhanced content and collaborative notes. The bookmark feature enables users to save content (both sections and tables), leave notes, add bookmarks to larger collections, and color-code bookmarks. For easy side-by-side viewing of different sections of code, users can utilize the reference panel feature. NFPA LiNK also makes it easy to share sections of code with others (nonsubscribers included) via email from directly within a publication. Comprehensive search capabilities: The search feature within NFPA LiNK allows users to quickly search all NFPA publications by keyword or phrase. Users can also utilize filters to further refine a search and narrow down code content results. Custom MyLink page: MyLink is where subscribers can easily access and search all bookmarked content and collections. Within MyLink, users can create and reference individual collections of bookmarks as well as team collections for sharing and collaboration with others. Additional NFPA DiRECT™ content: NFPA DiRECT allows subscribers to find interactive, industry-specific content through situational navigation. With new content added on a weekly basis, the NFPA DiRECT hub within NFPA LiNK highlights situations and solutions created by NFPA experts to help users better understand requirements in varying situations. Offline Capabilities: The offline feature allows users to store publications, notes, and enhanced content for uninterrupted access anywhere at any time. Team Management Feature: NFPA LiNK’s team management capabilities mean team admins don’t need to contact NFPA or IT whenever they want to reassign licenses among team members. This feature allows users to conveniently invite, add, and remove team members.  Want to see it all in action? You can catch a recording of the session, “How to Quickly and Easily Navigate Digital Codes and Standards,” on our webinar page here.  As game-changing as these features are, NFPA LiNK continues to grow with you. We are constantly listening to and interacting with our users to learn more about the best updates that will help you excel in your daily roles. NFPA LiNK users can expect to see new content and features on a continuous basis—all of which will be shared with users within the “Announcements” section of NFPA LiNK. Stay tuned for more information on the next free NFPA LiNK educational webinar, coming in June 2022. Check here for more details soon. To find out more about NFPA LiNK, including how to sign up for a free trial, visit nfpa.org/link. 

This fall, NFPA introduced the launch of a video blog series highlighting the key functions and features of NFPA LiNK™, the newest digital platform for building, electrical, and life safety professionals and practitioners. We discussed the dashboard and publications features, bookmarks and MyLiNK functionalities, as well as the search and share functions. In this, our last video in the series, we’re putting the spotlight on the “team access” feature that can assist you and your staff on the job. We all know in the workplace you are often working with a team of people. Maybe you’re in the engineering department designing systems and equipment or mapping out plans for a new hospital. Perhaps you’re in the field installing equipment in a new school. Regardless of your role, it is likely you are collaborating and working with others to complete your tasks. This is where NFPA LiNK can help play a part. With a teams or enterprise subscription, users have the ability to create collections and share notes. So as the supervisor you can now flag key areas to prepare your team for their next project. You can group together common questions and provide clarifications with your personal notes so your team has access to the information they need to be the very best at their job. Another great feature for managers includes the ability to put together collections on important topics to assist with training new hires or updating teams on the latest changes. Team members can also create their own team notes and collections to share peer to peer, as well. As your team grows or changes you can easily add and remove users by simply updating their email address in the administrator’s team management section. Invite a team member and they will receive an emailed invitation to join your team. A few clicks later they will able to take advantage of all the features available to them through NFPA LiNK. Learn more about team and enterprise subscriptions in the video below:     There’s so much about NFPA LiNK you don’t want to miss. Whether you’re a manager or team member, there are so many functions and features within NFPA LiNK that will keep you connected and informed with everyone you work with. Learn more about how NFPA LiNK can elevate your work and help you accomplish your goals. Purchase or try NFPA LiNK today by visiting the website.  Find more information about the platform, a timeline of additional codes and standards that will be coming to NFPA LiNK, and a product introduction video at nfpa.org/LiNK. 

Soon after the launch of NFPA LiNK™, the Association's newest digital platform for building, electrical, and life safety professionals and practitioners, we introduced a new video blog series that offers a quick look inside the key functions and features of the tool. This week's video addresses the “share” functionality.   When referencing code requirements, users may need to share specific code text with peers. For example, let's say you are inspecting a job site and you find some violations. To assist with enforcement, you need to be able to reference specific code sections and share them with the responsible parties so they understand what was done incorrectly. NFPA LiNK allows you to share code sections via email to both subscribers and non-subscribers, along with your personal comments. By doing so, you will be able to maintain the integrity of the NFPA code and know you're referencing material from the source. Learn more about this “share” feature in the video below:   Don't miss out on all that NFPA LiNK provides. The blog series can be a helpful start. Check out the first two videos that explain the Dashboard and “publications” features. The second installment showcases “bookmarks” and the MyLiNK functionalities. The third blog in the series highlighted the NFPA DiRECT situational navigation and DiRECT Content features, and most recently last week's video blog gives us a glimpse into the “search” feature. Learn more about how NFPA LiNK can help you in your work. Try NFPA LiNK today by visiting the website. Find more information about the platform, a timeline of additional codes and standards that will be coming to NFPA LiNK, and a product introduction video at nfpa.org/LiNK. 

A few weeks ago, NFPA introduced a new blog series that explains some of the features and functionalities of NFPA LiNK™, the Association's newest digital platform that will deliver NFPA codes and standards, expert commentary, and supporting content for building, electrical, and life safety professionals and practitioners. We've received a great response to the series so far and this week we're pleased to offer the latest video in our series that addresses the “search” functionality. The ability to search for content within a digital application is commonplace in today's world. When you're on the job, you expect to get to the information you need quickly and with a simple search. With NFPA LiNK, it's easy. Users will find that they can simply search by keyword, phrase, or section number within specific codes or even across publications. Results will appear as applicable codes and standards sections, in addition to information related to situations and solutions within the NFPA DiRECT feature. Want to know what else NFPA codes and standards have to say related to your search? With NFPA LiNK, you can expand your search across all current publications and find out what else may apply. Learn more about this “search” feature in the video below: There's so much about NFPA LiNK you don't want to miss. The blog series is a great place to start. Begin with our first two videos that explain the Dashboard and publications features. The second installment showcases bookmarks and the “MyLiNK functionalities. Last week's blog highlighted the NFPA DiRECT situational navigation and DiRECT Content features. Stay tuned for next week's video blog where we point to the “share” feature. Learn more about how NFPA LiNK can help you in your work. Purchase or try NFPA LiNK today by visiting the website.  Find more information about the platform, a timeline of additional codes and standards that will be coming to NFPA LiNK, and a product introduction video at nfpa.org/LiNK. 

As you may know, NFPA launched NFPA LiNK® last month. It's an exciting new digital platform that provides code information and supplementary content for professionals and practitioners like you who need to better understand problems and make decisions in real time while on the job. To help with navigating the platform, we created a new weekly video series that explains some of the features and functionalities users need like dashboards, sharing, bookmarks, and more. Here in this latest blog in the videos series we address the NFPA DiRECT® feature. Have you ever looked at a codebook and just felt overwhelmed? Are there times when you're not sure where to start, how to find what you're looking for, or even know what applies in a given situation? If you've answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you'll appreciate the NFPA DiRECT feature that can help you navigate the codebook in a more real-world manner. While you may not always know where to look in the book, you do know the specifics of your particular task. Simply knowing what you're doing, where you are doing it, and what you're working on is enough to get you started with NFPA DiRECT. With a little bit of context, you can start applying filters based on some high-level categories such as occupancy, space, system, or equipment. As the filters are applied, results will continue to narrow down until you find the content that matches your needs. For example, say you are new inspector and have been tasked with performing an inspection in an office building. More specifically you have to look at a roof- mounted HVAC system that you have never inspected before and you're not sure where to look for all of the requirements. With NFPA DiRECT you can start with what you know: the occupancy is a business and the equipment is HVAC. Then, applying these filters will produce results that contain the relevant code information. Learn more about this key DiRECT navigation feature in the video below:   The results shown after applying filters consists of relevant situations and solutions. Let's take the HVAC example, again. That situation page features an image of a rooftop unit with numbered hotspots pointing to different parts. From there you can select among various solutions related to different aspects of the situation to get more information. That's where you will find additional explanatory commentary or imagery along with any relevant code requirements with direct access to the code section. NFPA is continually building out these situations and solutions within NFPA LiNK, and every week new ones are being created. With a subscription you will continue to see new content and updates to existing content to better support your needs. There's so much about NFPA LiNK you don't want to miss. This video blog series is a great way to visualize the tool and how much it can help you in your work. If you missed our earlier video demonstrations, check out the first two in the series that showcases the Dashboard and publications features.  The second blog in the series points to the Bookmarks and MyLiNK features. Take some time to review them all; we think you'll find the quick tutorials very helpful. Find more information about the platform, a timeline of additional codes and standards that will be coming to NFPA LiNK, and a product introduction video at nfpa.org/LiNK. Purchase or try NFPA LiNK today by visiting the website.