The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Board has announced that Chad Beebe, AIA, CHFM, CFPS, CBO, FASHE, deputy executive director of the American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE), has been selected as a member of the technical committee for NFPA 800, Battery Safety Code. His appointment began in April 2025.
NFPA 800 is a proposed new standard that would provide uniform, minimum requirements that address battery hazards across all stages of a battery’s life cycle and in the context of various common applications. The standard, which covers fire, electrical, life safety and property protection requirements, would complement the existing standard NFPA 855, Standard for the Installation of Stationary Energy Storage Systems, which addresses battery safety issues generally, by bridging gaps in guidance that remain between NFPA 855 and other existing standards on the subject. As part of the NFPA 800 technical committee, Beebe will advocate for considerations unique to the health care physical environment — and by extension, ASHE members — in the development of regulatory policy around safe battery operation.
“ASHE is fortunate to have Chad as a liaison between NFPA and the health care physical environment field on matters concerning battery safety,” says Lizzie Ortolano, ASHE’s executive director. “This appointment ensures that the interests of health care facilities and the professionals that work diligently to operate them will be represented from the moment this important new standard is introduced.”
In addition to his work at ASHE, Beebe serves on more than 20 NFPA technical committees, including as executive board member of the NFPA Health Care Section and chair of the Health Care Section Codes and Standards Review Committee.
