A Management Strategy to Establish Life Safety Equivalency for Historic Buildings

Abstract

A strategy to identify fire safety factors, interactions and associated domains of knowledge is articulated. A management strategy to assess the life safety potential of occupants in historic buildings is developed. The concept of time available versus time required is employed to establish a safety index for the purpose of characterising public assembly areas in historic buildings, with respect to life safety. Equivalency is determined by comparison with a predetermined benchmark value which represents the status quo. The need for management procedures to be sufficiently flexible and capable of accommodating external perturbations is emphasised.