The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has launched two new online courses – Life Safety and Fire Protection Systems Fundamentals and NFPA 25 ITM of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems.

The release of these courses is timely for workers that have been furloughed, professionals working remotely, and engineering students and others looking to expand their knowledge amid COVID-19, says the NFPA. The content is designed for building owners, facility managers, commercial insurance agents, electrical workers, contract fire protection system installers, construction personnel, aspiring engineers, employers who oversee building and life safety professionals, and those interested in pursuing careers in the built environment.

The Life Safety and Fire Protection Systems Fundamentals course is the first life safety and fire protection fundamentals course offered by NFPA. This two-hour session is a high-level course that explains how various codes (NFPA and others) impact these systems. The course is meant to “introduce students to key concepts and terminology; and provide a broad understanding of egress, building systems, occupancy and use, building rehabilitation, emergency planning, detection and alarms, and sprinkler systems”. The self-paced program includes expert-developed content, videos and interactive exercises that follow a worker who is reviewing various facility systems and the impact they have on fire and life safety.

The NFPA 25, Inspection, Testing and Maintenance of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems course has been updated to include the latest revisions to NFPA 25. The three-part, three-hour, self-paced series “covers everything that is needed for maintaining water-based fire protection systems including sprinklers, fire pumps, water tanks and more”, with the end result of saving time and money, and performing job duties to a higher standard. The course features a combination of videos, custom animation components and interactive activities where the stakeholder can navigate through different ITM scenarios. A key part of the training is the theatre, which features a collection of short videos demonstrating ITM procedures.

Both courses will provide workers with a certificate of completion and CEUs after their successful completion.

“In recent years, we have seen growing interest in our online learning offerings; and not surprisingly, that need has exponentially increased as workers currently find themselves at home due to COVID-19,” Bartholomew Jae, director of NFPA Education & Development said. “The fact that NFPA stakeholders are skilling up for when they return to their jobs is a silver lining to the pandemic. Their investment in learning more about fire and life safety now will, no doubt, benefit themselves, their company, and their customers in the future.”

In addition to these courses, NFPA offers a variety of online learning programs, and has also developed resources in recent weeks that support “fully operational fire and life safety systems and adherence to codes and standards, while balancing the realities of the current world health crisis”.