Healing Burns - Modern Miracles

In his book, MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom, Tony Robbins not only provides clear guidance on money management, but also shows why financial security is important for a bright future.  With the many messages of a future filled with doom and gloom, machines taking over the world, or a return to Thunderdome, it can be discouraging enough to even want to worry about future financial security, or living long enough to see it.  

In the chapter titled, "The Future Is Brighter Than You Think", Tony shares several current developments (in various sectors) that are evidence of a brighter, better, smarter, future.  A future filled with wonderment, a future worth being around for.

The most amazing technology that he shares is a medical device called "the skin gun".  Statistics show that every ten minutes in America an individual suffers a significant burn injury.  The process of healing burns, and applying skin grafts is long, painful, and often met with unsatisfactory results.  The "skin gun" changes everything!  

With the skin gun, healthy cells are harvested and cultured.  The stem cells are then applied to the burned area with the spray gun. Within just 2 or 3 days the burned area is completely healed, with virtually no scarring.

"The world we live in today is a place of everyday miracles, and change is happening so fast that sometimes we don't even notice it."  -Tony Robbins

5 Insights From My Reader Survey

In December I launched my second annual reader survey.  This survey is meant to, ultimately, serve the reader. It is through this survey that I can know who you are and what type of information is most valuable to you.  I am then able to create the content that you want.

Some of the questions that were on this years survey included:

• Do you work within the private or public sector?
• What industry do you work in?
• What do you need ongoing support for?
• What is the #1 challenge in your business today?

"Original" survey crew - US Geological Society 

By collecting and analyzing your responses to these questions (and a few others), I was able to find answers to the following 5 questions:

1. Who are you? You, the participants of this site, are evenly made up of private and public sector personnel.  As many of you work within municipal fire departments as work for private companies and organizations.
2. What do you do? All industries have a need for fire protection and life safety professionals.  Some specific industry sectors that were options included: industrial, manufacturing, aviation, educational, and facilities management.  However, the two top professions that you are part of is, municipal fire departments (fire inspectors, fire officers, firefighters), and fire protection/life safety consultants.
3. What is your biggest challenge? Some of the biggest challenges stated had to do with manpower, finances, and communication.  But the common response was the need for quality and effective training for personnel and  community/client education.
4. What specific training do you need? The training most requested is explanation and in-depth education of specific codes and standards, and resources and guidance on new construction and plans review.
5. How often do you want to hear from me? You would not mind to get an update or e-mail from me once a week.

What does this mean for you? TheCodeCoach.com will continue to provide great (and improved) content for the fire protection/life safety industry.  My posts and products will be more focused on the needs of municipal fire prevention personnel, and individuals within the consulting industry.  I will write more about specific codes and standards, systems and processes, guides and checklists; and will write less about career development and leadership topics. I will also be providing this content by utilizing different mediums, instead of a blog only, I will be adding a podcast, video content, and interviews. 

If you want to get these weekly updates, you can subscribe to my e-mail list .

If you participated in the survey, thank you for taking the time to do that. I consider it a gift.

#FireProtection: Technologies Impacting the Future

Every industry seems to have an abundance of conferences, events, and educational opportunities. Deciding which ones to attend and which ones will provide the greatest value, can  present a real challenge when planning out your year.  As I plan ahead, I choose my conferences and events based on three priorities:  lesson, leader, location.

• Lesson - What is the training topic? Is it something I am interested in? Is it a topic that immediately concerns my organization?
• Leader - Who is the instructor, presenter, or speaker?  Is it an expert in the field? Is it a famous personality that I have wanted to hear?
• Location - Is it local (convenient for small travel budgets)? Is it exotic (Las Vegas, Miami, New York)?  What other activities are there (all work or some fun)?

From these priorities I can easily select the handful (2 or 3) of conferences that will be most beneficial, economical, and valuable. Every year the event that quickly rises to the top, that most effectively meets these three criteria, is the “Training With the Experts Seminar Series” sponsored by Orr Protection Systems.

The lesson and training content is always timely and of great value. This years topic is “Trending Now! #FireProtection Technologies Impacting the Future”.  This topic will explore developing technology in fire protection and how it will impact the facilities that we work in and with.  Some of the technologies to be discussed include: smart devices and apps, selecting voice evacuation/mass notification systems, data center design considerations, and new developments in clean agent, water mist, and air sampling technologies.  Additionally, there is always a “bonus session” which offer just as much value as the main session.  This years bonus session will be on, “Causes and Cures for False Alarms”.

Orr Protection Systems is the leader in mission critical fire protection systems.  The expert presenter is Lee Kaiser, Engineering Manager for ORR. Lee, has a personality that is instantly likable.  With Lee at the helm one can trust that the information will be presented in an entertaining and informative manner, without the use of engineering terms and gobbledygook.  Lee has a presentation style that effectively engages the mixed audience of facility managers, architects, engineers, inspectors, public fire service personnel, and AHJ's.

The location can’t be beat! From San Francisco to Ft. Lauderdale, Phoenix to Philadelphia, and in between, this “Training With the Experts Seminar Series” is coming to an area that is local and easy to get to. Click here to see all the locations!

Having attended this event in the past, and looking forward to attending in the future, there is no other conference that offers as much value for the investment as this!  I highly recommend this to anyone within the facilities management, contracting/design, fire protection, or public service sectors.

Register for, Trending Now! #FireProtection Technologies Impacting the Future

Understanding Building Construction and Loads

The key to conducting an accurate fire protection and life safety assessment of your facility is in determining the construction type of your buildings. How do we do this?  What are the various construction types? What do they mean? 

NFPA 220, Standard on Types of Building Construction, defines the five types of construction.

• Type I - Fire Resistive
• Type II - Noncombustible
• Type III - Ordinary
• Type IV - Heavy Timber
• Type V - Wood Frame

NFPA 5000, Building Construction and Safety Code, provides detail on each type of building product and outlines design criteria for various loads (chapter 35, "Structural Design").  Basic loads that need to be accounted for include:

• dead loads
• live loads
• concentrated loads
• static loads
• dynamic loads

The slideshow below provides clear guidance on each construction type (with code references), and clearly defines the basic loads with examples of each.  You will also want to download the companion slide notes for further clarification.

Download the Slide Notes