Update: E-committee

NFPA Journal, May/Jun 2002 by Brown, Cathy

It's easy to participate in the technical committees now working online.

NFPAs technical committees have a new home on the Internet! Committee members are logging onto their individual committee pages to find information about upcoming meetings-everything from hotel and airline information, to agendas and minutes from past meetings, even complete ballot packages. Current committee lists are also available, complete with phone and E-mail addresses for all committee members. Committee members can also access the NFPA documents for which their committee is responsible.

The intent of the E-Committee pages is to assist technical committees in their work, not to replace meetings. When changes occur in meeting materials, there's no need to wait for delivery of updated information. Files posted online are immediately accessible in PDF format, viewable using the free Adobe Acrobat download. Access to all other materials relevant to technical committees, such as regulations and procedures, forms and applications, are only a mouse click away.

Response to this new benefit has been good, as committee members and staff learn new ways to disseminate committee information. The majority of technical committees currently have an E-Committee page on www.nfpa.org, and those that don't will have one by May.

Accessing E-Committee Info online

For NFPA technical committee members, accessing an E-Committee page is easy. Once you've completed the initial log-in process, which is based on either your NFPA identification number, minus the leading zeros, or a unique committee member number, your log-in identification is your E-mail address, along with a password you set up during the initial log-in. All the committees on which you serve are listed under the technical committee heading in the navigation bar down the left side of the screen. This section also contains your member information, along with any subscriptions you may have, including free access to your committee's codes and standards. You can access the same information by clicking on the "My Profile" button next to the "Sign In" button. If you forget your password, there's a handy "Forgot Password" button, on the sign-in page that will E-mail you a reminder.

After each Standards Council meeting, new committee members will automatically receive their log-in information. If you've already logged in, either as a current committee member or an NFPA member, you don't need to go through the set-up log-in again. Your new committee will automatically be added to your list of technical committees.

All committee members were either mailed or E-mailed their log-in information last October. Those of you who may have inadvertently discarded your notification can send an E-mail to stds admin@nfpa.org, and we'll forward you the information.

What's next for E-Committee? Look for online balloting, which will allow you to review all necessary data and submit your ballot from the secure site of your E-Committee page.

CATHY BROWN

CATHY BROWN

is NFPA's manager of Codes and Standards Development. She's overseeing the E-Committee project, along with other web-related activities.