The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Health Care Section has elected Chad Beebe, AIA, CHFM, CFPS, CBO, FASHE, deputy executive director of the American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE), as the group’s next chair. Beebe, who has been a section member since 2000, starts the new role on June 17.

NFPA’s Health Care Section is comprised of health care professionals from across the field — from fire safety officials and facilities engineers to long-term and acute care providers — who work together to minimize risk in health care environments. The section provides a forum to discuss and disseminate pressing issues facing health care in an effort to share ideas, solve problems and exchange information — as well as discuss and review the latest NFPA codes and standards and share opportunities for NFPA code/standard development. The section also reviews changes to the more than 80 NFPA codes and standards that apply to health care, collect section member feedback on the impact of those changes, and present the section’s recommendations to NFPA’s technical committees developing the standards. Finally, the section identifies and delegates members to serve on the various NFPA codes and standards committees to represent health care’s interests. 

“Chad’s election to chair of the NFPA Health Care Section gives health care facilities professionals an amplified voice in code and standard development and gives ASHE access to vital cross-field code and standard information that we can share with members,” says Lizzie Ortolano, ASHE’s executive director. “This also further solidifies ASHE’s role as a leader in the health care field and provides the opportunity to share how our work in the health care physical environment impacts patient care and supports better patient outcomes.”

Beebe will serve as chair of the section for a two-year term. In addition to his work at ASHE, Beebe serves on more than 20 NFPA technical committees, including as chair of the Health Care Section Codes and Standards Review Committee.