ALARM 2.0 Users Manual: Minimizing Compliance Costs of the Life Safety Code for Prisons.
ALARM 2.0 Users Manual: Minimizing Compliance Costs of
the Life Safety Code for Prisons.
(865 K)
Weber, S. F.; Schultz, L. I.
NISTIR 6807; 44 p. November 2001.
Sponsor:
Department of Justice, Washington, DC
Available from:
National Technical Information Service
(NTIS), Technology Administration, U.S. Department of
Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161.
Telephone:
1-800-553-6847 or 703-605-6000;
Fax: 703-605-6900; Rush
Service (Telephone Orders Only) 800-553-6847;
Website:
http://www.ntis.gov
Order number: PB2001-109108
Keywords:
prisons; life safety code; costs; correctional
facilities; economic analysis; fire safety; life safety
code; building codes; linear programming; optimization;
building economics
Abstract:
ALARM, Alternative Life Safety Analysis for Retrofit
Cost Minimization, is a software tool that helps prison
facility managers and fire safety engineers achieve
cost-effective compliance with the widely-used Life
Safety Code of the National Fire Protection Association.
The latest version of the software (2.0) supports
analysis of Detention and Correctional Occupancies.
Through a special provision of the code, ALARM
implements a goal-oriented, or performance-based
approach to code compliance. The user specifies the
current safety level of the facility for each of 13 life
safety parameters and then enters quantity and size data
on each of the safety improvements to be explored. The
software indicates whether the current safety level is
in compliance with the code and, if not, quickly finds
the least cost compliance strategy and its estimated
construction cost. The software takes into account the
special conditions in the code that preclude finding
solutions by hand. A practice file with data from a
sample facility, extensive help with a step-by-step
tutorial, and a report utility for viewing and printing
results are included. The optimization method used in
ALARM has been field tested in 89 hospitals (17,898
beds). For this sample the least-cost solution
identified by the software was on average 41% less
expensive than the prescriptive solution--a potential
cost savings of $2.116 per bed or over $37 million.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899