Cost-Conscious Guide to Fire Safety in Health Care Facilities.
Cost-Conscious Guide to Fire Safety in Health Care
Facilities.
(4050 K)
Chapman, R. E.
NBSIR 82-2600; 65 p. November 1982.
Sponsor:
Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC
Available from:
National Technical Information Service
Order number: PB83-150466
Keywords:
building codes; fire safety; health care facilities;
hospitals; life safety; nursing homes
Abstract:
This study focuses upon the use of the Fire Safety
Evaluation System developed by the Center for Fire
Research at the National Bureau of Standards for
determining equivalence to the Life Safety Code for
health care facilities. The Life Safety Code, a
voluntary code developd by the National Fire Protection
Association, is a widely used guide for providing fire
safety in buildings. This study outlines the Fire
Safety Evaluation System Cost Minimizer (FSESCM)
computer program. The FSESCM program is intended for
use as a management tool to identify a series of optimal
compliance strategies which are equivalent to the
prescriptive provisions of the Life Safety Code in
health care facilities. The mathematical optimination
techniques which form the basis of the FSESCM program
make it possible to quantify the cost savings
attributable to the use of the Fire Safety Evauation
System over prescriptive compliance to the Life Safety
Code. An in-depth analysis of a typical health care
facility is used as a case study to demonstrate that
cost savings of 50 percent or more over those associated
with prescriptive compliance to the Life Safety Code are
possible.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899