The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) announced the initial launch of its Authenticity Program, through which users and customers can ensure that digital copies of NFPA documents have not been altered in any way. The NFPA Authenticity Program was developed in response to growing concerns about maliciously altered, counterfeit, or unauthorized copies of NFPA digital documents. Now, with this program, users can assure themselves that they have authentic materials by downloading them only from NFPA.org or its authorized resellers and by always finding and clicking on the Authenticity Stamp on any NFPA document they plan to use.
“NFPA codes and standards are widely used in design, construction, and enforcement throughout North America, as well as countries around the world," said Christian Dubay, P.E., NFPA VP of codes and standards, and chief engineer. "An alteration or omission of even a single digit or letter in a formula can tragically impact public safety. This program ensures that code and standards users have an authentic document.”
The NFPA Authenticity Stamp contains a customer’s identification number, and is a live link to a verification database that includes NFPA documents in this program. By clicking the link, a verification process will begin, redirecting the user to a website that displays customer and code information. If the document does not have the Authenticity Stamp, or if any of the information is incorrect, or there is no link to www.nfpa.org, the downloaded document is unauthorized and may be inaccurate. Use of that digital code or standard should be discontinued and NFPA’s customer service department should be contacted to report the problem and get help in obtaining genuine NFPA codes and standards.
While the stamp will appear on documents each time they’re downloaded, the new program will not impact usage rights, downloading or the storage process in any way.
The final phase of the NFPA Authenticity Program was completed in January 2013; the program is fully implemented online.
