NFPA 1801 Thermal Imagers for the Fire Service

Scope

This standard shall specify the design, performance, test­ing, and certification requirements for thermal imagers used by fire service personnel during emergency incident operations.

This standard shall specify requirements for new thermal imagers for the fire service.

This standard shall also specify the minimum require­ments for the design, performance, testing, and certification of thermal imagers certified to an earlier edition of this standard that incorporate parts, components, and/or software to meet this edition of the standard.

This standard shall not specify requirements for thermal imagers manufactured prior to the effective date of this stand­ard.

This standard shall not specify requirements for thermal imagers manufactured to any other standards or other require­ments.

Any accessories or enhancements built into, attached to, or sold with the thermal imager by the thermal imager manufacturer for later attachment shall be tested with the ther­mal imager with those accessories and enhancements installed or attached, as specified in, to ensure the performance and functions of the thermal imager.

This standard shall not be construed as addressing all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with the use of this stand­ard by testing facilities. It shall be the responsibility of the persons and organizations that use this standard to establish safety and health practices and to determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use of this standard for designing, manufacturing, and testing.

Nothing herein shall restrict any jurisdiction or manu­facturer from exceeding these minimum requirements.

The purpose of this standard shall be to establish mini­mum requirements for thermal imagers manufactured for fire service use.

Controlled laboratory tests used to determine compli­ance with the performance requirements of this standard shall not be deemed as establishing performance levels for all situa­tions, environments, and conditions to which thermal imagers could be exposed.

This standard shall not be interpreted or used as a detailed manufacturing or purchase specification, but it shall be permitted to be referenced in purchase specifications as minimum requi reme nts.

This standard shall apply to all thermal imagers used by fire service personnel during an emergency incident.

This standard shall apply to the design, performance, manufacturing, testing, and certification of new thermal imagers used by fire service personnel.

This standard shall also apply to the design, perform­ance, testing, and certification of thermal imagers originally certified to the previous edition of this standard that incorpo­rate replacement parts, components, and/or software to be certified to this edition of the standard.

This standard shall not apply to any thermal imager manufactured in accordance with other standards. However, manufacturers shall be permitted to have noncompliant ther­mal imagers modified to meet the requirements of this stand­ard and become certified as compliant with this standard.

 This standard shall not apply to accessories and enhancements that could be built into or attached to a certi­fied thermal imager before or after purchase but that are not necessary for the thermal imager to meet the requirements of this standard. Any accessories or enhancements built into, attached to, or sold with the thermal imager by the thermal imager manufacturer for later attachment shall be tested with the thermal imager with those accessories and enhancements installed or attached, as specified in  to ensure the performance and functions of the thermal imager.

This standard shall not apply to criteria for use of ther­mal imagers by the fire service.

Units

In this standard, values for measurement are followed by an equivalent in parentheses, but only the first stated value shall be regarded as the requirement.

Equivalent values in parentheses shall not be considered as the requirement because those values are approximate.

References for Extracts in Mandatory Sections

Definitions

The definitions contained in this chapter shall apply to the terms used in this standard. Where terms are not defined in this chapter or within another chapter, they shall be defined using their ordinarily accepted meanings within the context in which they are used. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition, shall be the source for the ordinarily accepted meaning.

NFPA Official Definitions.

Approved. Acceptable to the authority having jurisdic­tion.

Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ). An organization, office, or individual responsible for enforcing the requirements of a code or standard, or for approving equipment, materials, an installation, or a procedure.

Labeled

Equipment or materials to which has been attached a label, symbol, or other identifying mark of an organ­ization that is acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction and concerned with product evaluation, that maintains peri­odic inspection of production of labeled equipment or materi­als, and by whose labeling the manufacturer indicates compliance with appropriate standards or performance in a specified manner.

Listed

Equipment, materials, or services included in a list published by an organization that is acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction and concerned with evaluation of products or services, that maintains periodic inspection of production of listed equipment or materials or periodic evalua­tion of services, and whose listing states that either the equip­ment, material, or senice meets appropriate designated standards or has been tested and found suitable for a specified purpose.

Indicates a mandatory requirement.

Indicates a recommendation or that which is advised but not required.

An NFPA Standard, the main text of which contains only mandatory provisions using the word “shall” to indicate requirements and that is in a form generally suitable for mandatory reference by another standard or code or for adoption into law. Nonmandatory provisions are not to be considered a part of the requirements of a standard and shall be located in an appendix, annex, footnote, informational note, or other means as permitted in the NFPA Manuals of Style. When used in a generic sense, such as in the phrase “standards development process” or “standards development activities,” the term “standards” includes all NFPA Standards, including Codes, Standards, Recommended Practices, and Guides.

General Definitions

Processes including, but not limited to, sewing, gluing, laminating, tacking, or other means of attach­ing whereby materials or component parts are put together to form a portion of the compliant product or the complete compliant product.

An object that absorbs all electromagnetic radiation that falls onto it; no radiation passes through the object, and none is reflected.

Certification Organization. An independent third-party organization that determines product compliance with the requirements of this standard using product testing and evalua­tion and that administers a labeling, listing, and follow-up program.

Certification/Certified. A system whereby a certification organization determines that a manufacturer has demonstrated the ability to produce a product that complies with the require­ments of this standard, authorizes the manufacturer to use a label on listed products that comply with the requirements of this standard, and establishes a follow-up program conducted by the certification organization as a check on the methods the manufacturer uses to determine continued compliance of labeled and listed products with the requirements of this stand­ard.

Compliance/Compliant. Meeting or exceeding all appli­cable requirements of this standard.

Compliant Product. Equipment that is certified to the applicable NFPA standard.

Any material, part, or subassembly used in the construction of the compliant product.

To run or fall in drops or blobs.

The ratio of the radiation emitted by a surface to the radiation emitted by a blackbody at the same temperature.

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). A risk assessment technique for systematically identifying potential failures in a system or a process.

Follow-Up Program. The sampling, inspections, tests, or other measures conducted by the certification organization on a periodic basis to determine the continued compliance of labeled and listed products that are produced by the manufac­turer to the requirements of this standard.

Light that is scattered as a result of passing through a transparent object.

A symbol that represents an option, program, or system status.

A photometric measure of the amount of light that passes through or is emitted from a particular area.

The entity that directs and controls any of the following: compliant product design, compliant product manufacturing, or compliant product quality assurance; also, the entity that assumes liability for the compliant product or provides the warranty for the compliant product.

A response to heat by a material resulting in evidence of flowing or dripping.

The collective term used to identify a group of elements or items of the same basic design and components from a single manufacturer produced by the same manufactur­ing and quality assurance procedures that are covered by the same certification.

Pixel Saturation. Incident energy that causes a sensor to respond at its maximum value.

Power Source Indicator. A visual signal displayed on a thermal imager that indicates the status of the power supply.

Product Label

A marking provided by the manufac­turer for each compliant product containing compliance state­ments, certification statements, manufacturer, model information, or similar data.

Separation or division into constituent or elementary parts as expressed by the number of pixels in the displayed image.

Equipment or equipment components that are randomly selected from the manufacturer’s production line, from the manufacturer’s inventory, or from the open market.

The degree of response of a receiver or instrument to an incoming signal or to a change in the incom­ing signal.

Low Sensitivity

The least thermally sensitive opera­tional mode, used to increase the thermal imager’s tempera­ture range.

Sensitivity Mode. An operational function that relates to the degree to which temperature differences are resolved.

Service Life. The period that a compliant product can he useful before retirement.

The item that undergoes testing; the condi­tioned equipment or equipment component that is tested. Specimens are taken from samples. (See also 3.3.23, Sample.)

Temperature Measurement Zone. A transparent green square that aids in aiming a thermal imager for temperature measurements.

Thermal Imager (TI). Special electronic equipment that creates a picture based on the heat produced by a person or object.

Integrated TI. A removable or nonremovable TI that is an integral part of another item or items of protective clothing, protective equipment, or both.

An integrated TI that is not removable and cannot be used independently of the item or items with which it is integrated.

An integrated TI that is removable so that it can be used independently of the item or items with which it is integrated.

StandrAlone TI. A TI that is not an integral part of any other item of protective clothing or protective equip­ment.

White-Hot Polarity. A display methodology whereby a grayscale image is created based on the fact that the warmest object in the field of view is the whitest object.

Certification

For the process of certification of thermal imagers as being compliant with NFPA 1801, all such thermal imagers shall meet the requirements of Section 4.1, General; Section 4.2, Certification Program; Section 4.3, Inspection and Testing; Section 4.4, Annual Verification of Product Compli­ance; Section 4.5, Manufacturers’ Quality Assurance Program; Section 4.6, Hazards Involving Compliant Product; Section 4.7, Manufacturers’ Investigation of Complaints and Returns; and Section 4.8, Manufacturers’ Safety Alert and Product Recall Systems.

All certification shall be performed by a certification organization that meets at least the requirements specified in Section 4.2, Certification Program, and that is accredited for personal protective equipment in accordance with ISO/IEC 17065, Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes, and services. The accreditation shall be issued by an accreditation body operating in accordance with ISO 17011, Conformity assessment — General requirements for accredita- tion bodies accrediting conformity assessment bodies.

Manufacturers shall not claim compliance with portions or segments of the requirements of this standard and shall not use the NFPA name or the name or identification of this stand­ard, NFPA 1801, in any statements about their respective prod­uct (s) unless the product(s) is certified as compliant to this standard.

Where thermal imagers are compliant, the product shall be labeled and listed.

Where thermal imagers are compliant, the product shall also have a product label that meets the requirements specified in Section 5.1, Product Label Requirements.

The certification organization’s label, symbol, or identi­fying mark shall be attached to the product label, shall be part of the product label, or shall be immediately adjacent to the product label.

The certification organization shall not certify any ther­mal imager to the 2018 edition of this standard on or after the NFPA effective date for the 2021 edition.

The certification organization shall not permit any manufacturer to label any thermal imager as compliant with the 2018 edition of this standard that is certified as compliant with the 2021 edition of NFPA 1801 after the effective date plus 14 months.

The certification organization shall require manufactur­ers to remove all certification labels and product labels indicat­ing compliance with the 2018 edition of NFPA 1801 from all thermal imagers that are under the ownership and control of the manufacturer on the effective date plus 14 months, and the certification organization shall verify that this action is taken.