Cost-Effective Compliance With Life Safety Codes.
Cost-Effective Compliance With Life Safety Codes.
(320 K)
Weber, S. F.; Lippiatt, B. C.
Fire Technology, Vol. 32, No. 4, 291-296,
November/December 1996.
Keywords:
life safety codes; cost effectiveness; building codes;
building economics; economic analysis; fire safety;
health care facilities; hospitals; linear programming;
mathematical programming; optimization
Abstract:
ALARM is personal computer software that helps building
managers and fire safety engineers achieve
cost-effective compliance with the widely used NFPA 101,
Life Safety Code. The software currently supports
health-care occupancy analysis. Through the equivalency
provision of the code, ALARM implements a goal-oriented,
or performance-based, approach to code compliance. The
software generates a set of alternative code compliance
strategies and their estimated construction costs.
Engineering judgment is then applied to select the most
appropriate code compliance strategy based on both cost
and design considerations. The software offers a
code-compliance optimizer, a comprehensive file manager,
and a full-screen data editor. Since 1981, the
optimization method used in ALARM has been field-tested
data editor. Since 1981, 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 percent
less expensive than the prescriptive solution. This
represents a potential cost savings of $2,116 per bed or
more than $37 million. Future versions of ALARM could
address other building occupancies.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899