Dealing With Uncertainty to Improve Regulation.
Dealing With Uncertainty to Improve Regulation.
(1386 K)
Notarianni, K. A.; Fischbeck, P. S.
Fire Safety Design in the 21st Century, Second (2nd)
Conference. Pre-Conference Papers. Proceedings.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute. June 9-11, 1999,
Worcester, MA, 121-133 pp, 1999.
Available from:
For more information contact: 48-page summary report and
a 255 page proceedings can be found/downloaded at
Website: http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/Fire/Conf/
Keywords:
fire safety; performance based codes; fire codes;
building codes; fire protection; regulations;
uncertainty; human behavior; risk assessment; decision
making
Abstract:
It is the thesis of this paper that current efforts in
fire-safety design comprise a necessary set of actions
to enable the shift from prescriptive codes to
performance codes, but not a sufficient set of actions
to provide for the sound implementation of a
performance-based system. Such a system needs to
provide all stakeholders a known level of confidence in
the final design and to ensure the life-cycle safety of
a building. This paper discusses five related issues:
1) barriers to sound implementation and rapid depolyment
of performance-based standards, 2) the role for
uncertainty in improving performance-based regulations,
3) difficulties with uncertainty analyses associated
with performance-based evaluation, 4) a taxonomy of
uncertainties; and 5) a methodology for dealing with
these uncertainties.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899