A socio-technical system framework for risk-informed performance-based building regulation

Building regulatory systems have been evolving in recent decades, first with a transition to a functional or performance basis, and more recently with the introduction of new societal objectives, including those related to sustainability and climate change resiliency. Various policy and technical challenges have been identified with this evolution, including the lack of a common basis for establishing performance expectations, quantified performance metrics, and robust mechanisms to incorporate new objectives in a manner that effectively integrates a diversity of stakeholder input and results in regulatory requirements that do not compete with long-standing objectives. Among the mechanisms being explored to facilitate a managed evolution is the use of risk as a basis for performance, and modifications within the building regulatory environment to enable this. It is posited that framing the building regulatory system as a socio-technical system (STS) will highlight the complex interactions that exist between regulators and the market, the roles stakeholders play in characterizing risk for use in building regulation, and what steps are required to shift to a risk-informed performance-based building regulatory system, taking into account different legal structures and regulatory approaches that exist between jurisdiction

Twenty years of performance-based fire protection design: Challenges faced and a look ahead

A review of two decades of worldwide experience using standards, codes and guidelines related to performance-based fire protection design for buildings has identified shortcomings in the interpretation, application and implementation of the performance-based design process, apparent inconsistency in the resulting levels of performance achieved and several opportunities to enhance the process. In a constantly evolving building environment, technical challenges have to be overcome because fire safety engineering still depends greatly on knowledge gained from scientific and engineering research across a broad range of disciplines (e.g., better understanding of the fire phenomena, the behavior and response of the building occupants/contents/structure to the fire, tools for engineering analysis and all the necessary data needed to support tool application). Political challenges also need to be considered as performance-based fire protection design requires the approval of the authority having jurisdiction and other involved stakeholders, at several of its different steps (design, construction, original usage, modifications of usage). The review presented here has been undertaken from an engineering perspective rather than a regulatory perspective. Two key outcomes of this engineering review are that several of the challenges that have been identified are strongly linked to the application of generic guidance to specific problems, which results in critical details being missed, and that some of the engineering issues are treated within a political context, while they should be addressed as purely technical issues. \ua9 The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

A Framework for Risk-Informed Performance-Based Fire Protection Design for the Built Environment

Performance-based fire protection design (PBFPD) approaches have now been in use for more than 20 years. One might be tempted to conclude that the current 'state of the art' is working well. However, application of PBFPD remains limited, several shortcomings exist, and an increasing number of countries are moving toward 'prescribed performance' to address the gaps. There are many factors contributing to these problems with PBFPD. Research has been carried out in two principal problem areas: the relationship between occupants and fire safety measures in the context of holistic building performance expectations during everyday use of the building, and also the lack of specifics within current PBFPD approaches. To address these concerns, a new framework for risk-informed PBFPD has been developed, centered on the study of systems formed by specific building types and their associated occupants. This framework replaces generic guidance with a more in-depth and targeted "building-occupant" system approach. This article focuses on how a successful implementation of the new risk-informed PBFPD approach will require acceptance of the need for a paradigm shift from one in which fire is the center of the problem to one in which building performance metrics are evaluated in case of fire events. This article also details the different steps of the new PBFPD process and how this process differs from the current ones, notably in separating technical steps from political steps related to decision making and policy. Finally, this article presents how the new approach is practically applied to a project, focusing on a proof of concept of the new PBFPD process. \ua9 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

A New Species of Osedax (Annelida: Siboglinidae) Associated with Whale Carcasses off Kyushu, Japan

Egress models are being used more frequently to simulate people movement; i.e. how people enter, use and leave a building. However, little has been written on the different aspects of people movement that can be examined and how these models may achieve this. This paper outlines six modes in which an egress model can be applied: Naïve; Operational; Predictive; Engineered; Real-Time; and Interactive. The paper outlines what is needed to enable these application modes, in terms of data, expertise and model functionality, and the benefits of doing so. This is intended to highlight the challenges faced by egress models and the complexities of the subject matter being examined: people movement under emergency and nonemergency scenarios. Currently, no model includes all of the six modes identified. The authors hope that this discussion will identify the importance of these modes, the need for them to be addressed within the same model and the clear benefits of doing so