A cost-effective risk-assessment model for evaluating fire safety and protection in Canadian apartment buildings

A description is given of a stochastic system model that was developed to represent the dynamic interaction between human behaviour, and fire growth and spread in multi-storey apartment buildings in Canada. The effects of the smoke and fire spread are calculated in terms of two performance parameters; namely the expected risk to life and the fire- cost expectation. These performance parameters are used to appraise the cost-effective provisions of fire safety and property protection in apartment buildings. The system model can be used to appraise (1) whether existing code provisions provide consistent levels of risk and (2) the cost-effectiveness of both existing code provisions and possible alternative design strategies.Les auteurs d\ue9crivent un mod\ue8le de syst\ue8me stochastique qui a \ue9t\ue9 mis au point afin de repr\ue9senter l'interaction dynamique du comportement humain et des d\ue9veloppement et propagation du feu dans les immeubles d'habitation canadiens. Les effets de la propagation de la fum\ue9e et du feu sont calcul\ue9s d'apr\ue8s deux param\ue8tres de performance : le risque pr\ue9vu pour l'homme et la pr\ue9vision co\ufbts incendie. Ces param\ue8tres de performance servent \ue0 \ue9valuer l'efficacit\ue9, compte tenu des co\ufbts, des moyens de s\ue9curit\ue9 incendie et de protection des biens dans les immeubles d'habitation. On peut utiliser le mod\ue8le en question pour (1) d\ue9terminer si les dispositions actuelles des codes assurent de fa\ue7on constante la s\ue9curit\ue9 des personnes, et (2) \ue9valuer l'efficacit\ue9, compte tenu des co\ufbts, des dispositions actuelles des codes et des autres strat\ue9gies de conception possibles.Also Published as: Proceedings of the IFPEI-V International Fire Protection Engineering Institute, An Exchange of the State-of-the-Art in Fire Protection Engineering, Ottawa, ON, Canada, 1989 - Reprinted in NRCC-39021Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye