The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has awarded Kerry Bell the group’s prestigious Standards Medal in honour of his outstanding contributions to fire safety and his role in developing NFPA codes and standards.

Bell, a corporate fellow and principal engineer for fire sprinkler and pump equipment in the Built Environment group at UL Solutions, received the award at the NFPA Stars at Night gala, which took place on June 5 during the 2022 NFPA Conference & Expo in Boston.

The Standards Medal is considered the NFPA’s most distinguished award and is given by the organisation’s Standards Council. With 13 members appointed by NFPA’s Board of Directors, the council oversees NFPA standards development, helps ensure compliance with NFPA rules and regulations and, among other tasks, holds three meetings each year. The group is integral to the NFPA’s work in continuing to push not just for appropriate and up-to-date standards but also in enforcing compliance with these rules and regulations.

NFPA’s Standards Medal recognises a member’s exceptional contributions to fire safety and the development of new NFPA codes and standards. Receiving this award from the NFPA Standards Council, whose members are highly dedicated to this work, is truly an honour.

Commenting on his award, Bell said: “It is an incredible honour to receive such a prestigious award, and I am deeply grateful to the NFPA Standards Council for this wonderful recognition. I’m also acutely aware of the fact that the opportunity to receive such an award would not have been possible without the support of UL Solutions. In that sense, this is an award for the organization as well.”

Bell served on the NFPA Standards Council from 2004 through 2019 and acted as the council chair for six of those years. He was also the first person from UL Solutions to hold the chairperson position.

He has been a member of more than ten NFPA committees throughout his tenure, including committees for Residential Sprinkler Systems, Sprinkler System Discharge Criteria, Correlating Committee on Automatic Sprinkler Systems and Stationary Fire Pumps. He has acted as the Technical Committee on Water Spray Fixed Systems Chair.

He added: “The UL Solutions and NFPA relationship goes back to both of our organization’s roots. Our standards, testing and certification complement the standards that NFPA publishes. UL Solutions voluntarily serves on more than 140 committees of the NFPA standards development process, which is a wonderful example of our commitment to fire safety.”

Dwayne Sloan, principal engineering director with the Built Environment group at UL Solutions, commented: “In addition to Kerry’s countless contributions to UL Solutions, he has spent a large part of his career supporting NFPA Technical Committees across the full fire suppression spectrum, and particularly the NFPA 13 series of installation standards for sprinklers,”. “These contributions earned him the position on the prestigious NFPA Standards Council and ultimately the sole UL Solutions member to ever serve as the Standards Council Chair. I was personally so proud to see Kerry deservingly recognized in this way.”