Cost-Effective Compliance With the Life Safety Code for Health Care Occupancies.
Cost-Effective Compliance With the Life Safety Code for
Health Care Occupancies.
(783 K)
Weber, S. F.; Lippiatt, B. C.
NISTIR 6030; June 1997.
U.S./Japan Government Cooperative Program on Natural
Resources (UJNR). Fire Research and Safety. 13th Joint
Panel Meeting. Volume 1. March 13-20, 1996,
Gaithersburg, MD, Beall, K. A., Editor(s), 97-104 pp,
1997.
Available from:
National Technical Information Service
Order number: PB97-184204
Keywords:
fire safety; fire research; life safety code; cost
effectiveness; health care facilities
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. An
equivalency provision of the code, called the Fire
Safety Evaluation system, establishes a scoring system
that permits trade-offs among safety features. ALARM
exploits this flexible provision by helping users find
cost-effective solutions to compliance. ALARM generates
a set of near least cost 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 a code compliance
optimizer, a comprehensive file manager, and a
full-screen data editor. The optimization method used
in ALARM has been field tested in nearly 100 hospitals
since 1981. Cost savings have averaged between 30 and
35 percent of the cost of prescriptive compliance
strategies. Future versions of ALARM could address other
building occupancies.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899