Learning from Existing Tools: Enhancing Fire Risk Assessment in the Built Environment
Louis Cleef - Delft University of Technology
This explorative study marks an important first step towards developing a Fire Safety Economics Decision-making framework. It provides developers with insights into Fire Risk Assessment Tools, essential for analyzing fire safety in built environments. The study has yielded several observations that propose enhancements to these tools, as detailed in the paper's conclusion.
A comparison of fire risk assessment tools highlights missing factors and attributes critical for scientific validation. This sets the groundwork for developing sustainable, fire-safe buildings. Our goal is to encourage developers to share knowledge and data more openly so that these tools provide more insight into the expected fire safety level, especially in predicting the consequences and societal impact of fire accidents.
In addition to his work at ROCKWOOL, where he, as fire safety manager, is responsible for research, training, and information on fire safety concerning economics and sustainability, Louis Cleef is a guest researcher at the Delft University of Technology.
His research focus on developing a fire safety economics decision-making framework to complement insights that may be gained from fire safety engineering with micro-economic insights. The general research question is the following: “How can a framework be scientifically developed such that economic information becomes part of the fire prevention decision-making process?