NFPA launches Webinar series

QUINCY, Mass.--Responding to a demand from members, the National Fire Protection Association launched a Webinar series that began in September. The first month included a variety of topics from “Mass Notification” to “Motor and Instrument Control Circuit Compliance in Industrial Environments.” “Many people want to take NFPA training, but they can’t afford to travel, or the timing doesn’t work. We also have a lot of international customers,” said Cheryl Green-Pozner, director of business development in the professional development division of NFPA. How’d the NFPA determine which topics to tackle? “Many of these were hot topics at our [NFPA World Safety Conference and Exposition] this year. Others we determined through research,” said Green-Pozner. The Webinars are conducted by NFPA staff and industry leaders and are 60- to 90-minute presentations. “The technology has gotten so much better, and we felt assured that it was going to work and everyone would be able to access them,” Green-Pozner said. Participants can interact with speakers and no special software is required. Green-Pozner said the seminars had generated a lot of interest thus far, but that this should definitely be considered a pilot program. “We’ve got three full months’ worth of Webinars scheduled and we’re slowly rolling out the full schedule,” she said in early September. “We’re planning to review the seminars [after the initial three months] to see what works and build it from there, make it better.” To see a list of upcoming sessions and to register, see www.nfpa.org.