A COMPARISON OF METHODS USED FOR FIRE SAFETY EVALUATION.

The paper considers the problem of fire safety assurance by means of fire risk indexing and fire risk assessment. Attention is focused on the comparison of these two principal approaches and the possibilities of applying them in a combined set. The paper is aimed at defining, comparing and analyzing fire safety assessment by applying the aforementioned approaches. The practicability of both approaches is compared by means of an example considering fire safety of an existing office building. It is stated that fire risk indexing is more practicable than formal risk assessment despite all shortcomings of the former approach. It is highly probable that comprehensive decision-making concerning fire safety assurance will be based on fire risk indexing rather than on formal risk assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]