To all MGPHO members:

The NFPA First Draft for the 2027 is now available for comment on the NFPA website.  As mentioned at the Annual in Las Vegas, this may be one of the most important revision cycles since the 2012 revision, and deserves the attention of everyone interested in medical gas.    

Of course, you are strongly encouraged to read through all the possible changes and make any comments you feel appropriate - remember that your comments are what drives the committee.

There are two comments of particular importance which are not easily visible, but your opinion on those is very important, as they are in there specifically for public comment before they go forward or are rejected. 

The first is the very first PI in Chapter 5.  This is the report of the Reorganization Task Group which essentially reorganizes the entire first half of the document. 

To comment on this, read it through, then go to "Submit Public Comment Online".  There, in Chapter 5, check the square box to the left of "Chapter 5 Gas and Vacuum Systems", the very first line as if you were going to comment on the whole chapter.  Follow through the steps, put in your comments and your substantiation, and as the Related Public Input use "PI 251".

The second is CI 1131 (PI 164) and will be found above 5.1.9.4.  This proposal would significantly change how we place alarms for groups of anesthetising locations

Both of these need as much public input as possible, so please take the time to offer your input!

A brief primer on how to access and comment on the draft: 

go to www.nfpa.org/99

There you will see "Next Edition" click there, and it will open "Terraview" the NFPA tool for standards creation. 

In the left navigation box, you can choose the chapter you would like to see.

After clicking on the chapter, you will see the txt interlined with grey bars.  Each bar links to a proposal or action of the committee.  ("PIs x) is the number of Public Inputs on that clause, CI means a Committee Input)

Clicking the bar will open a window where you can see the details of the proposal and action taken.

As you go through, if you wish to comment on an action, note down the Chapter (5.1.2.3, etc) and the FR number and / or the PI (Public Input) number.  You will need that when you go to make your comment. Obviously, you should also write out what you want your comment to be. 

When you have reviewed all the actions, it's time to submit your comments.

Go back to the "Next Edition" tab at www.NFPA.org/99 (clicking the back arrow on your browser will probably work) 

Find at the top the "Submit Public Comment Online"

You will see what looks like the same Terraview page, but if you choose a chapter, there are no grey bars.  What you see now is the text of the 2027 code if no other changes are made. 

To submit your comments, go to the reference you wrote down, and click the square box to the left of that number.

At the bottom of the page, a button for "Revise First Draft Section(s)", "Add New Section" and "Clear All" appear.  

"Clear all" will clear your check marks, and is useful if you are revising a lot of text, but is rarely necessary.

"Add new section" is useful at the proposals stage, but not very useful now because anything proposed could not receive adequate public review. 

So ""Revise First Draft Section(s)" is what you will use. 

Click that button, and you will see the text of the section.  You can edit it here if you wish, but be aware that any new material cannot be accepted now and therefore you should limit your comments to text which changed through proposals that you wrote down earlier. 

Follow through the steps using the "Next" button at the bottom of the screen to register your comment.  Be sure to enter your substantiation (VERY important) and then the FR number or PI number you wrote down.  

After the last screen where you allow NFPA to use your input, you will then come back to the first screen and see your comment appear as an insert in the text.

You can comment on any change, and ahould do so, particularly if you have a better idea.

The two comments that are specifically for public input are very hard to find, so follow the notes at the start and you should be able to pull them up.