Application of rapid method for checking egress system vulnerability

To ensure people’s safety in case of fire in buildings it is fundamental to design and manage an effective egress system. Generally, the design and management of the egress system safety is achieved using either the prescriptive codes or performance based tools (mainly evacuation models). In this paper PASS (Preliminary Assessment of the egress System Safety), a method developed to allow a rapid screening of egress system vulnerability, is presented and applied to a case study. PASS is a set of simple analytical equations that allow assessing at different levels of analysis the egress system performance without simulating the evacuation process. It incorporates factors used to include in the assessment the main interrelationships between people–building–environment and to adapt PASS to different scenarios.The method was preliminary applied to a case study (high school). PASS results were compared with two evacuation models (STEPS and FDS+Evac) and data collected from an announced evacuation drill. A good agreement between PASS analysis, the data collected during the evacuation drill and the evacuation models was obtained.

► A method for a rapid screening of egress system vulnerability (PASS) is introduced.
► PASS egress system assessment is made with a multilevel analysis approach.
► PASS capabilities are tested in a case study (high school).
► Results are compared with evacuation models (STEPS, FDS+Evac) and experimental data.
► Good agreement between PASS, STEPS, FDS+Evac and evacuation drill is obtained.