Roadmap for incorporating risk as a basis of performance objectives in building regulation

• Published in: Safety science 2021-09, Vol.141, p.105337, Article 105337
• Main Authors: Meacham, Brian J., van Straalen, IJsbrand J., Ashe, Brian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Building design; Building regulation; Criteria; Design; Fire hazards; Fire safety; Health hazards; Occupational safety; Performance-based; Risk assessment; Risk characterization; Risk factors; Risk management; Risk-informed criteria; Safety management
• ISSN: 0925-7535; 1879-1042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ssci.2021.105337

•Provides a ‘roadmap’ for incorporating risk as a performance metric in building regulation.•Discusses how individual risk and societal risk measures could be used.•Presents a concept for establishing benchmark individual risk from mortality data.•Illustrates how tolerable risk levels may be set base on percentage of background risk.•Reflects how the roadmap process was applied to building regulatory development in Australia. It has been suggested that future generations of building regulation can become more risk-informed and performance based, and that this can be best facilitated through viewing the building regulatory system as a socio-technical system (STS). A central component of the STS approach to building regulation is that government (regulators) and the market understand and agree the risk measure(s) that have and will be used to define the tolerable level of risks that are addressed through building regulation, the specific risk criteria that will be used in the evaluation of the risks for regulation and design, and the analysis and design approaches that will be used to demonstrate that building design solutions can be verified as meeting the risk criteria and measures. To support these efforts, a risk characterization roadmap is presented as guidance for building regulators embarking on efforts to use risk as a basis for building performance requirements. While the roadmap has been designed to address all health and safety hazards considered within building regulations, characterization of fire risk is used as an example throughout.