Cost-effective compliance with life safety codes

Abstract

ALARM is personal computer software that helps building managers and fire safety engineers achieve cost-effective compliance with the widely used NFPA 101,Life Safety Code ®. The software currently supports health-care occupancy analysis. Through the equivalency provision of the code,ALARM implements a goal-oriented, or performance-based, approach to code compliance. The software generates a set of alternative code compliance strategies and their estimated construction costs. Engineering judgment is then applied to select the most appropriate code compliance strategy based on both cost and design considerations. The software offers a code-compliance optimizer, a comprehensive file manager, and a full-screen data editor. Since 1981, the optimization method used inALARM has been field-tested in 89 hospitals (17,898 beds). For this sample, the least-cost solution identified by the software was, on average, 41 percent less expensive than the prescriptive solution. This represents a potential cost savings of $2,116 per bed or more than $37 million. Future versions ofALARM could address other building occupancies.