ALARM 1.0: Decision Support Software for Cost-Effective Compliance With Fire Safety Codes.
ALARM 1.0: Decision Support Software for Cost-Effective
Compliance With Fire Safety Codes.
(2484 K)
Weber, S. F.; Lippiatt, B. C.
NISTIR 5554; 58 p. December 1994.
Available from:
ALARM 1.0 is available from National Fire Protection
Association, Quincy, MA
Keywords:
building codes; cost minimization; economic analysis;
fire safety; health care facilities; hospitals; life
safety codes; linear programming; optimization
Abstract:
ALARM, Alternative Life Safety Analysis for Retrofit
Cost Minimization, is a personal computer software tool
that helps building managers and fire safety officers
achieve cost-effective compliance with the widely-used
"Life Safety Code". This first version of ALARM
supports analysis of health care occupancies. Through
use of an equivalency provision in the code, ALARM
implements a goal-oriented, or performance-based
approach to code compliance. ALARM generates a set of
alternative code compliance strategies and their
estimated costs. These strategies offer decision
support by providing a set of alternatives from which to
select the most appropriate code compliance strategy
based on both cost and design considerations. The
software offers an integrated code compliance optimizer,
full-screen data editor, and file manager. The
optimization method used in ALARM has been field tested
in nearly 100 hospitals since 1981. Cost savings have
been found to average between 30 and 35 percent of the
cost of prescriptive compliance strategies. ALARM could
be tailored to other building occupancies in the future.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899