Fire risk assessment tools for the built environment - An explorative study through a developers’ survey

Fire risk assessment tools for the built environment - An explorative study through a developers’ survey

Cleef, L.H.M. (TU Delft Safety and Security Science)
Bouchaut, B.F.H.J. (TU Delft Safety and Security Science)
Yang, M. (TU Delft Safety and Security Science)
Reniers, G.L.L.M.E. (TU Delft Safety and Security Science)

2024

In the built environment, often too much focus is put on compliance instead of seeking the optimal fire-safety solution for the building. Because of a lack of tangible incentives for building owners, the benefits of implementing fire safety measures and their societal contribution are often not recognized and therefore, not considered. By means of a literature review and a survey, we have indicated necessary fire-safety related attributes and tool features and analyzed the currently available fire risk assessment tools. This study shows that a limited number of these tools can provide a partial fire risk analysis of a building. A total of 26 tools were found. No tools were found that included all the identified fire consequence-related attributes to ensure fire-safe buildings. However, we did identify 11 tools that have the potential to assess between 32 % and 52 % of the found attributes of building fire safety. To stimulate the development of such tools, this paper provides 12 factors by which to assess fire risk assessment tools – quantifying the overall ‘quality’ of the assessment tool – which can incentivize industry to refine the existing ones with enhanced predictability of the potential consequences of fire incidents.

Fire safety; Fire consequences; Built environment; Fire-risk assessment tool

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:d8f6d0ab-60be-4e25-935c-ee5f87ee66c2

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2024.104169

0379-7112

Fire Safety Journal, 146

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2024 L.H.M. Cleef, B.F.H.J. Bouchaut, M. Yang, G.L.L.M.E. Reniers