Approach to incorporating proven quality assurance, reliability, and human factors principles in fire protection programs

The Sandia Fire Protection program activities are compared with the technical functions required of an assurance program that has been tailored for ES and H assurance. Parts of all of the required assurance functions are present. The focus is on facilities, as they are occupied at any given point in time, and on the generic types of hazards associated with them. The facilities list is formalized. Major fire hazards are known to the Fire Protection staff, although no single formal list is maintained. Risk is used as a measure of performance for insurance-related evaluations and also as a basis for ranking. Risk is consciously considered, as are risk factors, although the relationship between them is understood only qualitatively. Formal efforts to identify nontechnical risk factors are made, but specific risk and risk factor activities have an informal character.