NFPA XCHANGE USER GUIDELINES

Introduction

We welcome your participation in the NFPA Xchange™, an online community sponsored by the National Fire Protection Association^® (“NFPA^®”) that is working together to share ideas and propose solutions. We want all of our members and visitors to have the best possible experience, and your respectful and cooperative interactions will help us achieve that goal. We hope that your participation in the NFPA Xchange will help to improve the development and quality of fire prevention and life safety codes and standards. 

The NFPA Xchange is open to all points of view on fire, electrical and related hazards as well as related topics. We want to hear from you, and we are committed to maintaining a comfortable environment for all visitors. Please interact with other users respectfully, as you would in any public or professional arena.

 

Guidelines

The following guidelines set forth NFPA’s expectations regarding how you may and may not use the NFPA Xchange (“Guidelines”).  Your participation in NFPA Xchange is subject to these Guidelines,  as well as NFPA’s Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, the Acceptable Use Policy for the NFPA Xchange and any additional policies and procedures, which may be found on NFPA’s website at www.nfpa.org.  Participants in NFPA standards development activities and NFPA members may also be subject to additional terms such as the Guide for the Conduct for Participants in the NFPA Standards Development Process.

Failure to follow these Guidelines and all other applicable NFPA policies and procedures may result in our modifying or excluding your content or terminating your account in our sole discretion.

NFPA reserves the right to modify these Guidelines at any time.  It is your obligation to review these Guidelines for any changes to them.

 

Prohibitions

• Use of or access by someone under the age of 16 is prohibited.
• Illegal or unethical activities and content directed at NFPA Xchange or its users are prohibited.
• Profane, obscene, racist, sexist, intolerant, inappropriate, disruptive, or unrelated content is prohibited.
• Indecent, profane, sexually explicit, obscene, or pornographic material of any kind - including masked profanity where symbols, initials, intentional misspellings, or other characters are used to suggest profane language - is strictly prohibited.
• NFPA does not endorse comments or postings made by its employees or by contractors, consultants, and other individuals working for or with NFPA and such content is not intended to be nor should it be relied on to provide professional consultation services.  No such individual is authorized to speak on behalf of NFPA.  NFPA does not validate assertions or statements made by individuals in their postings or comments. Threats, personal attacks, abusive, defamatory, derogatory, or inflammatory language, or stalking or harassment of any individual, entity, or organization is strictly prohibited.
• Discriminatory or hateful speech of any kind regarding age, gender, race, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, or disability is strictly prohibited.
• Solicitations and promotions and other commercial use are strictly prohibited. Infringement of any party's copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, intellectual property or other proprietary rights, or right of publicity or privacy is strictly prohibited and is the sole responsibility of the user.
• Using the NFPA Xchange to distribute unauthorized copies of copyrighted material, including photos, artwork, text, recordings, designs, computer programs, or derivative works of such programs is strictly prohibited and subject to removal.

 

 

By using and participating in the NFPA Xchange (also referred to herein as the “Site”), you agree to:

• Comply with all applicable state and federal laws, including but not limited to the NFPA Antitrust Policy, which is available here. You are prohibited from engaging in any conduct, conversations or agreements that would constitute an unreasonable restraint of trade or be otherwise illegal under antitrust laws.  
• Maintain courtesy and follow good posting etiquette. Posting with ALL CAPS, HTML tags, or excessive typographic symbols may result in your post being removed.
• Consider the rest of the community when you write posts or upload images. We want the NFPA Xchange to be a professional environment for constructive dialogue. The community benefits from different points of view so please be polite and respectful even when you disagree.  If you determine you made a mistake or an error in your postings, correct it.

• Be yourself. The NFPA Xchange is intended as a professional network so you need to identify yourself.  Upload and post content that is appropriate and belongs to you.  If you upload an avatar or profile image, only use images that you have created or have permission to use. Remember, you are personally responsible for the content you post.  Posting content that does not belong to you puts you at risk of liability.
• Be accountable for your postings. All statements and viewpoints expressed on the NFPA Xchange are strictly those of the commenter alone, and do not constitute an official position of NFPA.
• Contact us directly (rather than posting in NFPA Xchange) if you have an idea for a subject or would like to provide us with feedback regarding the NFPA Xchange. 
• Report to NFPA any abuse and other inappropriate content or conduct of which you become aware on the NFPA Xchange.
• Enjoy the community. Ask questions, share knowledge, and reach out to other people to exchange ideas respectfully.
• Use a new password for this Site rather than re-using a password you use in connection with social media and/or financial matters.

 

Further, you agree that you will not do the following:

• Engage in, promote, or advocate any illegal activity or fraudulent schemes of any kind including, but not limited to, money laundering, tax evasion, securities fraud, and pyramid or multi-level marketing schemes, through your posts or other use of the NFPA Xchange. You also agree not to post links to other websites that engage in such activities.
• Post material  that violates any applicable law or regulation, including, without limitation,  the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and  the national or other securities exchanges, (especially and including the rule  against making false or misleading statements to manipulate the price of any security).
• Offer, sell, or buy any security through the NFPA Xchange.
• Submit content that you know is false, inaccurate, libelous, or otherwise misleading in any way.
• Exchange information or engage in discussions, actions or agreements concerning individual prices, rates, coverages, margins or any other cost data, market practices, claims settlement practices or any other competitive aspect of an individual company’s operations.
• Submit content that contains any computer viruses, worms, or other potentially damaging computer programs or files.
• Impersonate others or misrepresent your business or qualifications.
• Post or transmit material you do not have the right to post or transmit under law (such as copyright, trade secret, or securities) or due to your personal contractual or fiduciary relationships.
• Use the NFPA Xchange in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair NFPA’s servers or networks, or interfere with any other user's use and enjoyment of the NFPA Xchange.
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any services, usernames, computer systems, or networks, through hacking, password mining, or any other means. We may take any legal and technical remedies necessary to prevent the violation of this provision.
• Provide commercial content or spam. Comments focused purely on selling a product or service, or comments posted for the purpose of driving traffic to a particular website for personal, political, or monetary gain, are prohibited.
• Engage in name-calling, personal attacks, harassment, or aggressive conduct towards others, each of which is grounds for immediate removal of a post, or grounds for permanent removal from NFPA Xchange.
• Post inappropriate content or make inappropriate statements. Think about what you want out there before you post, and filter your content responsibly.

• Make personal attacks. If you disagree with something, we'd like to hear from you, but always refrain from personal attacks and being disrespectful of others. Malicious intent, and any participation that is not in the spirit of civil conversation, is not allowed.
• Post illegal content. You are required to follow applicable laws, rules and regulations that govern use of copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, etc. Do not post images or other content that does not belong to you.
• Post or make available at the NFPA Xchange site any content or third-party website that harms, or intends to harm, the flow of information and/or participation in NFPA Xchange.
• Post unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, junk mail, chain letters, or pyramid or multi-level marketing schemes, and you further agree not to use automated means, including spiders, robots, crawlers, data-mining tools, or other means to download data from the NFPA Xchange.
• Use offensive language. Refrain from using profanity and provocative language. Any hateful, racially or ethnically offensive or derogatory content, threats, and obscene or sexually explicit language are prohibited.
• Use your account to host web graphics. Your account will be terminated if you use icons, smilies, buddy icons, forum avatars, badges, and other non-photographic elements from external websites.
• Engage in any spamming or excessive posting, or submit content that is disruptive, off-topic, deliberately intended to have a negative impact on the NFPA Xchange or its users, or otherwise interfere with the ability of others to enjoy or comfortably use the NFPA Xchange.
• Provide any specific financial or health account details, including information about any accounts you may have at NFPA. If you have immediate service needs, please contact NFPA Customer Service.
• Post information about threatened or actual lawsuits by you or others against a third party or entity.
• Post in NFPA Xchange any personally-identifiable information about another person, including addresses, email addresses, contact information, phone numbers, account numbers, Social Security numbers, Taxpayer Identification Numbers or health information, and use care in posting your personal or identifying information. In no event should you post your account numbers, Social Security number, Taxpayer Identification Number or health information anywhere on NFPA Xchange.  You may only post information about another person for which you have permission from that person to do so.
• Share any information from or about a member in NFPA Xchange with anyone outside of NFPA Xchange;
• Share access to NFPA Xchange with anyone else;
• Post comments in HTML format.
• Our point system and user status are designed to reward users for making positive contributions to the community. Please don’t take actions solely for the purpose of amassing more points and improving your status, especially if those actions won’t enhance the community experience.

 

Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability 

YOUR USE OF AND BROWSING OF THE NFPA XCHANGE ARE AT YOUR OWN RISK. NFPA MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE INFORMATION OR CONTENT CONTAINED ON THIS WEBSITE, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY AS TO NONINFRINGEMENT, OR THE SUITABILITY, RELIABILITY, TIMELINESS OR ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION OR CONTENT CONTAINED ON THIS SITE FOR ANY PURPOSE. NFPA DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONALITIES CONTAINED IN THE CONTENT WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THIS SITE OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES SUCH CONTENT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. NFPA DOES NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE CONTENTS IN THIS SITE IN TERMS OF THEIR CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHALL NFPA BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES THAT RESULT FROM THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THIS SITE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO RELIANCE BY A USER ON ANY INFORMATION OR CONTENT OBTAINED FROM THIS SITE THAT RESULT FROM MISTAKES, OMISSIONS, INTERRUPTIONS, DELETION OF FILES OR EMAIL, ERRORS, DEFECTS, VIRUSES, DELAYS IN OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION, OR ANY FAILURE OF PERFORMANCE, WHETHER OR NOT RESULTING FROM ACTS OF GOD, COMMUNICATIONS FAILURE, THEFT, DESTRUCTION, UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO NFPA’S RECORDS, PROGRAMS, OR SERVICES, OR OTHERWISE. YOU HEREBY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THIS DISCLAIMER AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL APPLY TO ALL CONTENT AND SERVICES AVAILABLE THROUGH THIS SITE.

IN NO EVENT SHALL NFPA BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF YOUR ACCESS TO, OR USE OF, THIS SITE OR THE CONTENT THEREON, WHETHER IN A CONTRACT ACTION OR BASED ON NEGLIGENCE, OR OTHER TORT ACTION, OR ANY OTHER CLAIM WHATSOEVER, EVEN IF NFPA OR A NFPA REPRESENTATIVE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. TO THE EXTENT APPLICABLE LAW DOES NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY OR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Indemnification 

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold NFPA, its affiliates, successors, directors, officers, employees, service providers, and agents from any and all liabilities, costs, and expenses, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, related to any violation of these terms by you, or in connection with the use of this Site or the placement or transmission of any message or information on this Site by you.

If you registered as a member of the NFPA Xchange, you are entirely responsible for any and all activities that occur under your account and agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the above-mentioned parties for any liability or expense arising from such use or misuse. You agree to immediately notify us of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security known to you.
 

Representations and Warranties

• You shall be solely responsible for your own submissions, your use of your registration and the consequences of posting or publishing or participating in the NFPA Xchange. In connection with your submissions and your use of this website, you affirm, represent and warrant the following:  (i) you have obtained all consents, and possess all copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret and any other proprietary rights, or the necessary licenses thereto, to grant the licenses herein; (ii) if necessary you have the written consent of each and every identifiable natural person in your submission to use such persons name or likeness in the manner contemplated by this site and these Terms of Use, and each such person has released you from any liability that may arise in relation to such use; (iii) you have read, understood, agree with, and will abide by these User Guidelines and all other applicable rules, procedures and policies of NFPA; (iv) your submissions and NFPA’s use thereof as contemplated by these Terms of Use will not infringe any rights of any third party, including but not limited to any intellectual property rights, privacy rights and rights of publicity; (vi) your submission does and will not contain: (a) material falsehoods or misrepresentations that could harm NFPA or any third party; (b) content that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, libelous, threatening, pornographic, harassing or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or violate any law; (c) advertisements or solicitations of business; or (d) impersonations of third parties, other than those which are readily apparent and not otherwise in violation of these User Guidelines.

 

• By submitting any content to the NFPA Xchange, you warrant and represent that you are the copyright owner of the content or that the copyright owner of the content has granted you permission to use such content consistent with the manner and purpose of your use.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Guidelines, and your rights and obligations hereunder, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, exclusive of conflict of laws principles, and in accordance with the DMCA where applicable.  Except where otherwise indicated, you hereby consent to the jurisdiction of the federal and state courts in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in connection with any suit, action or proceeding relating to these Guidelines. 

 

Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) Notice and Procedure and Counter-Notification

 

Privacy and Your Information

Please review carefully NFPA’s Privacy Policy for details on how we collect, use and share your information. Any information you added to your profile in the former Xchange platform will appear in your profile in the new NFPA Xchange.  It will be visible only to you until you change the privacy settings to share the information with other NFPA members.  

When you make your profile private, NFPA will still be able to see your profile and the information in it.

 

However, your profile (including, but not limited to your name, email address, LinkedIn profile if you chose to pull that information from LinkedIn to your NFPA Xchange profile) and any photo of yourself you include) will be visible to other members within the Site when you post anything; posting anonymously is not permitted.

If you are a NFPA employee or if you are working with NFPA, you must disclose your status in your profile. The NFPA Xchange will then indicate that you are working at NFPA next to your comments and questions to protect the integrity of the NFPA Xchange. Whether you are at home or in the office, working for NFPA is a material fact that may influence content and community members have a right to know.

 

To manage your preferences regarding your information, please submit a request through https://www.nfpa.org/Customer-Support/Manage-your-preferences-unsubscribe or contact our customer support center Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 5:00 pm (ET) at +1 800 344-3555 or +1 855 274-6525 (U.S. & Canada), +1 617 770-3000 (International) or +95 800-844-6058 (Mexico).

 

Careers and Job Boards

 

The “Careers and Job Boards” feature includes career-related information and job postings.  The job postings, which may include employment or internship opportunities with organizations other than NFPA, are provided solely for the convenience of NFPA members.  NFPA has not evaluated such non-NFPA opportunities or the organizations with those opportunities nor does it have any responsibility to do so, and NFPA makes no claims or representations regarding them.  In no event shall NFPA be liable for damages of any kind (to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law) relating in any to a non-NFPA opportunity posted on NFPA Xchange.

 

Technical Questions Service

• NFPA's Technical Questions Service is meant to provide information on and assistance in accessing and understanding NFPA codes and standards. Any opinion expressed, therefore, is the personal opinion of the responder and does not necessarily represent the official position of the NFPA or its Technical Committees. In addition, responses provided are not intended, nor should they be relied upon, to provide professional consultation or services. As a reminder, the Technical Questions Service should not be used for questions involved in litigation. Answers provided through the Technical Questions Service do not represent the position of NFPA.
• Opinions expressed on the NFPA Xchange are the opinions of the individuals who post them and are not the opinions of the NFPA. 
• The NFPA Xchange does not take the place of any existing or formal channel of or process for communication with NFPA.  Requests for Advisory or Formal Interpretations, for example, should not be posted on the NFPA Xchange.  The NFPA Xchange is also not the appropriate communication channel for proposed changes to NFPA codes and standards or for customer service requests.
• From time to time, the NFPA Xchange may contain information from or portions of NFPA codes and standards.  You should always refer to the complete document including any TIAs and errata on the “docinfo” pages of nfpa.org.  While the NFPA administers the process and establishes the rules for the development of NFPA documents, NFPA does not independently test, evaluate or verify the accuracy of any information or the soundness of any judgments contained in NFPA documents. The NFPA disclaims liability for any personal injury, property or other damages of any nature whatsoever, whether special, indirect, consequential or compensatory, directly or indirectly resulting from the publication, use of or reliance on NFPA documents.  In issuing and making documents or portions thereof available, NFPA is not undertaking to render professional or other services for or on behalf of any person or entity nor is NFPA undertaking to perform any duty owned by any person or entity to someone else.

 

Enhanced Discussions and Forums

The purpose of this feature is to allow members to share documents, information and feedback relevant to the discussion or forum, and to follow a live feed of the most current information, discussion and events.  At all times, you must abide by the Guidelines and all other applicable policies and procedures set forth herein. 

 

Media Center

As a member, you may share documents, files and videos in NFPA’s Members Sections and on NFPA Xchange, subject to the Guidelines and all other applicable policies and procedures as referenced herein.

 

Check In

The purpose of this feature in NFPA Xchange is to allow our members greater networking opportunities with people in their area by letting members know where you are.  NFPA members will not see this information unless you choose to share it.

 

Supervision of NFPA Xchange

The NFPA Xchange will be supervised by moderators and NFPA staff members (“Moderators”) that will review content, help our users get the information they need, and address issues that members bring to their attention. These Moderators may delete or edit content that is inappropriate, misleading, or does not comply with these Terms and Conditions. We may also remove comments not related to the subject of the conversation, or whose sole purpose is to vent frustration.  NFPA reserves the right to remove any content posted in NFPA Xchange, including content posted in Enhanced Discussions and Forums, Technical Questions Service, and Media Center, if NFPA deems it inappropriate in any way. NFPA further reserves the right to limit or remove your access to NFPA Xchange for any violation of the Guidelines, other applicable policies and procedures referenced herein, or if your use, content or behavior in NFPA Xchange is not in keeping with the purpose of the Site.

 

Dated 11.6.2020

 

If you disagree with the statements of another user, it is acceptable to engage in polite, mature debate.