Next‑Gen NFPA LiNK Makes Fire Codes Easier to Access, Understand and Apply
Jim Pauley, President and CEO of NFPA, highlights how the latest version of the NFPA LiNK platform transforms the way fire and life safety professionals access, interpret, and apply codes through AI guidance, shared notebooks, curated learning, and real‑time collaboration—strengthening compliance, consistency, and decision‑making across complex environments.
The new version of NFPA LiNK is positioned as more than a digital library. For fire safety professionals, how does the new platform change the way codes and standards are applied during design, inspection, and emergency response?
When we launched NFPA LiNK 5 years ago, it was about making our standards more digital and easier to access. One platform, with our entire library of 300 plus codes and standards at your fingertips. But access and reference aren’t enough today. We are not just in the business of delivering information – but delivering it in a way to help you make the right decision, in the right place, at the right time. This new version of NFPA LiNK will change how fire safety professionals and other professionals engage with NFPA codes and standards by making them easier to access, easier to understand, and easier to apply in real-world situations.
Rather than spending time searching through documents, users can find answers quickly using the AI-powered NFPA Assistant to provide clear, context-specific responses, highlight relevant requirements, and find authoritative citations. Custom notebooks, meanwhile, allow individuals and teams to capture project-specific scenarios, build checklists, add visual references, and share insights within the platform.
Alongside access to more than 300 NFPA codes and standards, the platform brings together curated learning materials, expert articles, and visual guidance that help professionals keep pace with emerging and evolving fire and life safety challenges.
Critical infrastructure operators manage complex, high-risk environments. How does NFPA LiNK help utilities, transport hubs, data centers, and industrial facilities improve compliance while reducing operational risk?
It’s important to remember that NFPA codes and standards are incorporated by reference across the Middle East and have been for decades. Critical infrastructure operators — from oil and gas facilities to transport hubs, municipalities, and large-scale developments — operate in environments where safety, compliance, and continuity are critical. With fire and life safety threats constantly evolving, using the most current codes and standards is critical. This next generation of NFPA LiNK provides a single, trusted platform that ensures teams are always working from the most current safety information.
Easy access to authoritative guidance helps dispersed teams stay aligned, reducing the risk of misinterpretation caused by outdated or inconsistent references. By supporting shared understanding through curated content, expert insights, and scenario-based documentation, NFPA LiNK will help organizations strengthen compliance, improve operational consistency, and reduce the likelihood of safety incidents across complex and high-risk facilities.
Smart cities rely on integrated systems and real-time collaboration. How does NFPA LiNK support cross-functional collaboration between fire authorities, urban planners, engineers, and technology teams?
NFPA LiNK enables planners, designers, engineers, and fire authorities to work from a common reference point, ensuring everyone applies the same, most up-to-date codes and standards. By contextualizing NFPA requirements within project the platform supports clearer communication across disciplines. This shared understanding helps teams anticipate risks earlier, streamline approvals, and implement fire and life safety measures more effectively across complex, interconnected smart city developments.
With access to more than 300 NFPA codes and standards, how does the platform ensure users can quickly find the most relevant requirements for their specific fire and life safety scenarios?
The new tools built into NFPA are designed to help users find the right answers quickly, even within a vast body of standards. Advanced search tools and the AI-powered NFPA Assistant allow users to ask questions in natural language and receive clear, targeted responses supported by direct citations. Custom notebooks allow professionals to save, organize, and revisit relevant content based on their specific projects, facility types, reducing time spent searching and improving accuracy across design, inspections, and risk assessments. Visual navigation tools, expert commentary, and curated learning materials, meanwhile, help users understand not just what a requirement says, but how it applies in practice.
Digital workflows are becoming essential in large-scale infrastructure projects. How does NFPA LiNK integrate into existing digital design, construction, and asset management processes used by fire safety and engineering teams?
The new version of NFPA LiNK features a refreshed user experience – including a redesigned dashboard that you can customize. You can drag and drop your favorite codes and standards, resize panels to fit your workflow, and set up the screen the way you want to work with our content. It’s faster, cleaner, and built around how people actually work. That’s what NFPA LiNK is all about. This new version is going to be your trusted career companion that keeps safety front and center, whether you are on a construction site, verifying safety system performance, reviewing a fire alarm layout, or answering any of the thousands of safety questions our code address.
Compliance is evolving alongside new risks such as energy storage systems, smart buildings, and connected infrastructure. How does NFPA LiNK help organizations stay ahead of emerging fire and life safety challenges?
As new technologies introduce new risks, NFPA LiNK helps organizations stay ahead by providing easy access to the latest standards covering areas such as energy storage systems, smart buildings, renewable energy, and buildings under construction. CASI (which stands for Codes and Standards Intelligence), the AI-powered NFPA Assistant, supports faster access to relevant code information, while custom notebooks allow teams to document compliance strategies, visual references, and operational checklists. Curated learning materials and expert articles, meanwhile, help users understand how these evolving requirements apply in practice. Together, these tools enable more proactive risk management and help organizations adapt confidently to a rapidly changing safety landscape.
AI is being built into many products and services today, what sets CASI apart?
What sets CASI apart from every other AI tool is trust. CASI doesn’t pull its knowledge from random blogs, or generic content scraped from the Internet. It is trained directly from the official, consensus-based NFPA codes and standards that only we can provide; the very documents that define and advance safety.
In a world where AI is accelerating, the quality of the data matters more than ever. If we expect people to trust AI, they have to trust what it is built on. With CASI you can trust in the system it’s being trained on, because it’s based on content from our time-tested, independent, Standards Development Process.
Collaboration is critical during both planning and incident response. How do the new collaboration and sharing features in NFPA LiNK improve decision-making among multiple stakeholders?
NFPA LiNK also has multiple sharing tools, allowing you to share standards, notes, and pages across your team instantly. Think about how useful this notebook functionality be. Shared notebooks allow teams to capture decisions, annotations, text, images, and relevant guidance in one place, creating a clear and consistent reference over time. During planning, this supports better coordination and accountability. During inspections or incident response, responders can quickly access relevant guidance, review prior notes, and apply established interpretations. This shared, structured approach supports more confident, coordinated decision-making when timing and clarity are critical.
The Middle East is investing heavily in smart cities, critical infrastructure, and giga-projects. What role do you see NFPA LiNK playing in supporting fire safety, regulatory alignment, and digital transformation across the region?
NFPA LiNK is all about make safety the easy choice. The Middle East’s rapid investment in smart cities, critical infrastructure, and giga-projects places increased importance on fire and life safety governance, consistency, and regulatory alignment. NFPA LiNK supports these ambitions by providing a modern, digital platform that brings together internationally recognized standards, expert insight, and practical guidance in one accessible environment.
Another important point is that the giga-projects in this region attract working professionals from around the world. These professionals need a common language, across multiple scenarios, affecting fire, electrical and life safety. This is another huge value of this next generation of NFPA LiNK, powered by CASI. It offers that common, collaborative platform that skilled workers on these projects need.
By enabling government authorities, designers, developers, and engineering teams to work from a shared reference and apply standards more consistently, the platform supports safer project delivery, smoother approvals, and stronger operational readiness. At the same time, it contributes to workforce development and knowledge transfer, reinforcing the region’s broader digital transformation and alignment with global best practices in fire and life safety.
