I have used NFPA 101A chapter 7 Fire Safety Evaluation System for Board and
Care Occupancies to identify building systems that compromise a facilities
fire safety and allow relative rankings of a group of building.  The system
utilized several tables that result in a plus or minus rating.  Parties
using the system should have some experience in review life safety systems
or have a background in building design and operation.
Lou Mitchell, Associate Director
Environmental Health & Safety
Iowa State University
Ames, IA  50011
[log in to unmask]
515-294-7668

-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Maas [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2000 9:31 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Evaluating Fire Safety of Residence Halls


Here's a tough one for all of you,

Does anyone have or know of a methodology of evaluating the fire
safety of a residence hall or other facility for the purposes of
ranking them for fire safety improvements?  Bringing every building
up to current standards of fire protection is a great goal but it
can't happen overnight.  We're trying to look at ALL of the factors
in determining what gets upgraded first but it's a rather subjective
process.  Type of construction, current detection, current
sprinklers, egress distances, compartmentalization and other stuff
all factor into it.  For example:

Three buildings, all fire resistive construction.
All have in room, local smoke detectors.
None have corridor smoke detectors tied to the fire alarm.

One has no sprinklers but is well compartmentalized into small units
that have egress into a common hallway and egress directly outside.

One has sprinklers in means of egress but is poorly compartmentalized
with long hallways and spread out exit stairs.

One has a full sprinkler system and is fairly well compartmentalized
with short hallways off a common stairwell but the one stairwell is
the only means of egress.

Given all those factors, which building gets a new fire alarm system
with corridor smoke detectors first?  What's the justification for
doing one building before another?  I'm looking for a methodology
that weights each factor appropriately.  Does anyone know of
something like that from a recognized organization or has anyone
developed your own ranking system?

DANIEL MAAS      (607)254-1634     FAX: (607)255-1642
Emergency Management Coordinator/Event Management Coordinator
Fire Protection & Emergency Services
Cornell University Environmental Health & Safety
EH&S Bldg,  201 Palm Road, Ithaca, NY  14850
email: [log in to unmask]

******************Disclaimer*************************
The comments and views expressed in this communication are
strictly my own and are not to be construed to officially represent
those of my peers, supervisors or Cornell University