NFPA 1970 Spotlight Series

UL Solutions NFPA 1970 Spotlight Series

With the consolidation of NFPA 1971, 1975, 1981 and NFPA 1982 into NFPA 1970, we understand you may have questions as to how this impacts your firefighter PPE. Our personal protective equipment experts are here to help explain the changes and answer your questions. 

Are you ready to learn more about NFPA 1970? 

NFPA 1970 Spotlight Series:

Part 1: What is Consolidation – Standard Organization

Part 2: Machine-readable Tags

Part 3: Outer Shell Impact – Flame after Fuel Exposure and Cleaning

Part 4: Helmets – Soft Good Removal and Reinstallation Test

Part 5: Particulate Blocking

What is the spotlight series, and who is it for?

The consolidation into NFPA 1970 will affect a wide range of firefighting PPE, including structural and proximity firefighting ensembles, SCBAs, station work uniforms and PASS devices. This series will walk through the critical updates and help industry professionals navigate changing standards, as well as support compliance and safety certification efforts.

Whether you're in firefighting, safety management or PPE manufacturing, this series will guide you through the new NFPA 1970 structure, helping you stay up to date with the latest in PPE standards.

What’s changing?

The NFPA 1971, which covers structural and proximity firefighting ensembles such as helmets, footwear, gloves, garments and hoods, and NFPA 1975, which pertains to station uniforms, are among the key standards undergoing consolidation. Additionally, NFPA 1981, which covers self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), and NFPA 1982, which relates to personal alert safety systems (PASS), will also be integrated into a single comprehensive standard – NFPA 1970.

Why is it changing?

Every five years, the NFPA responsible technical committees review and update their applicable standards, which includes revising the original standards. This process consisted of harmonizing the scopes, references, definitions and certification requirements from all the standards into single chapters, while reorganizing the labeling, design, performance and testing chapters of each standard into separate and consecutive chapters.

While reorganizing the structure of the standards, the technical committees also revised the requirements to reflect the latest advancements in technology and scientific understanding, which means that all PPE for structural and proximity firefighting will be affected.