Risk Index Method–A Tool for Sustainable, Holistic Building Fire Strategies

Dorota Brzezińska and Paul Bryant
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Dorota Brzezińska: Faculty of Process and Environmental Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, 90-924 Lodz, Poland
Paul Bryant: Faculty of Process and Environmental Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, 90-924 Lodz, Poland

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-14

Abstract: Modern fire safety engineering seeks to ensure buildings are safe from fire by applying optimum levels of fire safety and protection resources without the need to overprotect . Similarly, the principles of sustainability aim to ensure resources are suitably applied to meet social, economic, and environmental objectives. However, there is a mismatch between the actual application of fire safety and the sustainability objectives for buildings, typically caused by the highly prescriptive historical approaches still largely adopted and legislated for in many countries. One solution that is increasingly adopted is the more flexible, “performance-based” fire engineering approach that bases fire safety and protection provisions on the development of key performance objectives, some of which could be influenced by sustainability engineering propositions for buildings, but very often this does not appear to be enough. The proposed new concept prompts separate assessment and scoring of the eight most important fire safety factors, allowing for calculation of the fire strategy risk index (FSRI). By comparing the FSRI of the actual submitted strategy against the baseline strategy, enforcement agencies or other interested stakeholders will have a methodology to determine optimal fire safety solutions for buildings.

Keywords: fire strategy; risk index; fire risk assessment; fire protection; cost simulation; fire safety simulation; holistic fire strategy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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