Cost-Conscious Guide to Fire Safety in Health Care Facilities

摘要

The 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 developed 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 optimization 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 Evaluation 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.