Decision-making for fire risk problems: A review of challenges and tools

Decision-making is a complex process influenced by myriad variables. Fire protection engineers are often tasked with making critical decisions on fire risk issues, many times being faced with competing objectives, such as “adequate safety” and “reasonable cost”. Likewise, building and fire code committee members have the responsibility to make crucial decisions regarding the levels of safety and risk that become embodied in the regulations they draft. For those involved in these complex fire risk decision problems, it is helpful to understand the process of decision-making, the challenges to good decision-making, and the types of tools available to aid in the decision-making process.