FiRECAM <TM> deployment survey results

Publisher’s version / Version de l'éditeur:

Vous avez des questions? Nous pouvons vous aider. Pour communiquer directement avec un auteur, consultez la

première page de la revue dans laquelle son article a été publié afin de trouver ses coordonnées. Si vous n’arrivez

Questions? Contact the NRC Publications Archive team at

PublicationsArchive-ArchivesPublications@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca. If you wish to email the authors directly, please see the first page of the publication for their contact information.

https://publications-cnrc.canada.ca/fra/droits

L’accès à ce site Web et l’utilisation de son contenu sont assujettis aux conditions présentées dans le site LISEZ CES CONDITIONS ATTENTIVEMENT AVANT D’UTILISER CE SITE WEB.

Internal Report (National Research Council of Canada. Institute for Research in

Construction), 2000-06-01

READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS WEBSITE.

https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/copyright

NRC Publications Archive Record / Notice des Archives des publications du CNRC : https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=e95cdc9d-9a5a-4367-8ab3-c63afe20dc4f https://publications-cnrc.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=e95cdc9d-9a5a-4367-8ab3-c63afe20dc4f

NRC Publications Archive

Archives des publications du CNRC

For the publisher’s version, please access the DOI link below./ Pour consulter la version de l’éditeur, utilisez le lien DOI ci-dessous.

https://doi.org/10.4224/20386392

Access and use of this website and the material on it are subject to the Terms and Conditions set forth at

FiRECAM <TM> deployment survey results

http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

FI RECAM <T M > De ploym e nt Sur ve y

Re sult s

P r o u l x , G . ; Y u n g , D . ; B é n i c h o u , N . ; D u t c h e r , C . ;

S a e e d , H .

I R C - I R - 8 1 0

June 2000

F

I

RECAM

™

D

EPLOYMENT

S

URVEY

R

ESULTS

by

Guylène Proulx, David Yung, Noureddine Bénichou, Charles Dutcher and Hanaa Saeed

T

ABLE OF

C

ONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ……… 3

1.0 BACKGROUND ……… 4

2.0 SURVEY OBJECTIVES ……… 4

3.0 POPULATION SURVEYED ………... 4

4.0 RESULTS FOR THE WHOLE SAMPLE ……… 6

4.1 RESULTS OF INTERESTED RESPONDENTS ……….. 7

4.2 FUTURE COLLABORATION ……… 9

5.0 RECOMMENDATION ……… 9

F

I

RECAM

™

D

EPLOYMENT

S

URVEY

R

ESULTS

by

Guylène Proulx, David Yung, Noureddine Bénichou, Charles Dutcher and Hanaa Saeed

E

XECUTIVE

S

UMMARY

The FiRECAM team, of the Fire Risk Management Program at NRC, conducted a survey to assess the level of interest of the fire safety community in obtaining a copy of the

FiRECAM™ software. In January 2000, a survey was sent to a sample of 700 Canadian engineers, consultants, buildings officials, fire service personnel and fire risk managers. Among the returned surveys, 80 respondents, or 74%, were interested in obtaining a copy of the FiRECAM™ software through a license. Just over two-thirds of the respondents

interested in a copy of FiRECAM™, were prepared to pay an additional fee for technical support and training. Most of the respondents who were interested in the software were engineer/consultants or building officials, who indicated that they would use FiRECAM™ for “design” and “regulation”. Close to half of all respondents expressed interest in future

1.0 B

ACKGROUND

FiRECAM™, which stands for Fire Risk Evaluation and Cost Assessment Model, is a user-friendly computer program that can be used to assess the level of fire safety that is provided to the occupants of an apartment or office building by a particular fire safety design. In addition, the model can assess the associated fire costs that include capital and maintenance costs of the fire protection system and expected fire losses.

FiRECAM™ has been developed with a number of partners and clients who have financially supported the development of the model including: Public Works and Government Services Canada for renovating and retrofitting existing office buildings; National Defence Canada for residential quarters; National Association of Forest Industries, Australia, for timber-frame apartment buildings and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation for mandatory sprinklers in residential buildings.

2.0 S

URVEY

O

BJECTIVES

The FiRECAM team of the Fire Risk Management Program at NRC undertook to conduct a survey before deciding on how to market the FiRECAM™ software. The main question the team was concerned with was: what should be done with the completed version of

FiRECAM™? If there exists a genuine interest out there in using the tool, the team could proceed with technology transfer activities. If not, the project should be terminated. No matter what the outcome is, the results could help the Institute for Research in Construction (IRC) of NRC in formulating a position on the future of FiRECAM™.

Although the team had received several requests for the software, it has been difficult to tally actual interest without conducting a formal survey. This exercise also provides indications regarding the willingness of outside parties to pay to obtain a licensed copy of FiRECAM™, and their interest in receiving training and technical support. In the affirmative, training and support would require the team members to commit effort, time and funding to these activities.

The team also wished to know the type of business the people interested in the software are involved in, and the kind of projects they would use the tool on. Since the team is constantly looking for partners in the development of the model, it is also important to identify any outside parties who are interested in collaborating with NRC in the development of other advanced fire risk assessment models.

3.0 P

OPULATION

S

URVEYED

IRC Client Services provided addresses, from its large databank, of Construction/Engineer Consultants located throughout Canada. The survey was sent to a sample of 700 engineers, consultants, building officials, fire service personnel and fire risk managers, which formed the population surveyed. Although it was known at the time that some of the people surveyed might not be interested in fire modeling-tools, it was not possible to discriminate them more specifically.

A cover letter, the survey and a two-face colour information sheet on FiRECAM™ were sent out during the first week of January 2000. Quebec residents received a cover letter and a

survey in French. These documents are enclosed in Appendix A. Respondents were asked to return their completed survey by fax by the end of January 2000.

By mid-February 2000, a total of 107 completed surveys had been returned by fax, which is a return rate of 15%. Surveys were received from respondents of all Canadian provinces except PEI. Ontario 37% Alberta 9% Quebec 8% Nova Scotia 4% Manitoba 7% New Brunswick 10% British Columbia 20% Saskatchewan 3% Newfoundland 2%

RESPONSES BY PROVINCE

4.0 R

ESULTS FOR THE WHOLE SAMPLE

Of the 107 responses to the FiRECAM™ survey, 80 of the respondents or 74%, were

interested in obtaining a copy of FiRECAM™ through a license. Although 27 people were not interested in receiving a copy of the software at that time, five were interested in obtaining a copy in the future. Among the respondents not interested in FiRECAM™ were people in the fields of property management, industrial engineering, construction services, communication, forestry and pre-cast concrete.

In the Future 5%

INTEREST OF RESPONDENTS

Interested 74% Not Interested 21%

4.1 Results

of

Interested Respondents

Among the 80 respondents interested in obtaining a copy of FiRECAM™, 49 or 61%, responded that they were prepared to pay a nominal fee to obtain the software but didn’t require support or training. Another 31, or 39%, responded that they were interested in a licensed copy of FiRECAM™ and were prepared to pay an extra fee for technical support and training. These numbers include 5 respondents who checked off both options. Another 6 respondents didn't check either fee option, although they mentioned being interested in obtaining a copy of FiRECAM™.

WILLINGNESS TO PAY

61% 39%

Nominal Fee without Support & Training

Extra Fee with Support & Training

Some suggested group training sessions as opposed to in-office training sessions. Also, “pay-as-you-go” support was suggested to limit the cost to the needs of each user. Many respondents wanted to know how “friendly“ the software was, and if a detailed user-manual was available before making a decision about training. Although most chose the nominal fee option, many felt they needed to know the actual price difference between the options before they could make a final decision. While one person suggested a price between $200 and $300, another suggested $2000 for the FiRECAM™ software.

When asked what they planned to use FiRECAM™ for, 34 respondents out of 80 gave more than one answer, and 12 gave no response to that question. In total, 47 respondents or 40%, answered they would use it to design and 44 respondents or 36%, said they would use it in regulation. Many also intended to use the software to assess the safety of present buildings as well as buildings they were in the process of designing. A group of 15

respondents, 12%, mentioned they would use FiRECAM™ for research, often in conjunction with regulation. A few respondents intended to use the software to teach college students or to raise awareness about building safety.

USES FOR FiRECAM™

Design 40% Research 12% Other 1% Regulation 36% Renovation 3% Risk Assessment 5% Education 3%

When asked in what business they were, 60 respondents chose one option and 20 chose 2 options or more, so the same respondent can be in many business categories. Half the respondents, 40 people, were either engineers or consultants in different trades. This formed a general category of Engineering/Consultants representing 43% of the respondents, including professionals in fire safety, structural engineering, one HVAC and one roofing engineer. In this category also were a few mechanical, electrical and industrial consultants. The Building Official category grouped 24 respondents, or 25%, who would use FiRECAM™ in conjunction with regulation. The 10 respondents, 11%, in the Building Design category were interested in using FiRECAM™ to assess how safe current buildings were, and to look at alternative designs for new buildings. The Fire Service category, 7 respondents,

representing 7%, were planning to use FiRECAM™ for regulation. The Education category, 4 respondents representing 4%, consisted mainly of college and university professors who wanted to use FiRECAM™ as a teaching tool in their classes.

RESPONDENTS' FIELD OF ACTIVITY

Building Official 25% Manufacturer 2% Research 4% Fire Service 7% Insurance 2% Education 4% Other 2% Building Design 11% Engineer/ Consultant 43%

4.2 Future

Collaboration

Respondents to the survey were asked if they would be interested in participating in future development of more advanced fire risk models. Of all 107 respondents to the survey, 48 of them, 45%, were interested in collaborating with the FiRECAM team in future development of more advanced models. Some of the respondents interested in future collaboration were not interested in getting a copy of FiRECAM™ at the moment since the software does not

consider their fields of interest, such as health care facilities or detention and correctional occupancies.

5.0 R

ECOMMENDATION

The FiRECAM team is fully satisfied with the responses and comments obtained through the survey. Clearly, there is a marked interest, from the fire safety community throughout

Canada, to obtain a copy of FiRECAM™.

Although just over one third of the sample would be prepared to pay an extra fee to receive training and support, at the moment, it is felt by the team, that it is the best avenue to pursue to ensure that users of the software will understand the input required and will be able to properly interpret the output. To carry on deployment activities, a two-day FiRECAM™

for evaluation purposes only and for a fixed period of 6 months. At the end of that evaluation period, participants are required to send their comments to the FiRECAM team. If deemed valid and possible, these comments will be used to make improvements to the software. The above steps will allow the FiRECAM team to complete its deployment activities before the final step of the project can take place, which is to market and sell FiRECAM™ licences.

(NRC Letterhead)

Fire Risk Management Program

Phone: (613)

993-2204

FAX: (613) 954-0483

2000-01-04

Dear colleague,

Our software tool FiRECAM™ is now ready for deployment ! After many years of

development and verification, our Fire Risk Evaluation and Cost Assessment Model

(FiRECAM™) for apartment and office buildings is now ready for wide-spread use. In

order for us to determine the best way to deploy FiRECAM™, we are undertaking a

survey of the potential users of this tool. A survey form is attached and we would

appreciate it very much if you could take a few minutes of your time to fill out the

survey form and return it to us by fax at (613)954-0483 before January 28, 2000. For

your information, a brief description of FiRECAM™ is attached.

There is no obligation to purchase the software by filling out this survey form. The

survey is one way for us to assess the level of interest in FiRECAM™. The

information you will provide to us will be kept confidential.

Thank you for taking your time to complete and return the survey form. If you have

questions about this survey, please contact us at (613) 993-2204.

Sincerely,

David Yung, Ph.D., P.Eng.

Group Leader

Residential and Commercial Building Fire Safety

E-mail: david.yung@nrc.ca

FiRECAM™ Deployment Survey

1. Would you be interested in obtaining a copy of FiRECAM™ through a license?

θ

Yes

θ

No

2. How much would you be willing to pay for a copy of FiRECAM™?

θ

Nominal fee with no support and no training

θ

Extra fee with technical support and training

Comments: _______________________________________________ 3. What do you plan to use FiRECAM™ for?

θ

Design

θ

Research

θ

Regulation Others:_______________________ 4. What business are you in?

θ

Fire consultant

θ

Fire research

θ

Building official

θ

Fire service

θ

Manufacturer

θ

Insurance Others:_______________________ 5. Would you be interested in collaborating in the development of more advanced fire

risk assessment models?

θ

Yes

θ

No

6. Additional comments:__________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Contact Information Name: __________________________________ Position_______________________ Address:_______________________________________________________________ Phone: ____________________________ Fax: _______________________________

(Papier a lettre du CNRC)

Programme de gestion des risques incendie

Téléphone: (613)

993-2204

FAX: (613) 954-0483

2000-01-04

Cher collègue,

Notre logiciel FiRECAM™ est maintenant prêt à être utilisé ! Après plusieurs

années de développement et de vérification, notre modèle d'évaluation des

coûts-risques incendie (FiRECAM™) pour les édifices à bureaux et à appartements est

maintenant prêt pour une utilisation étendue. Afin de déterminer l'intérêt porté à

FiRECAM™, nous conduisons un sondage pour connaître les utilisateurs

potentiels de cet outil informatique. Nous vous serions très obligé de bien vouloir

remplir le questionnaire ci-joint et de nous le retourner par télécopieur au (613)

954-0483 avant le 28 janvier, 2000. Pour de plus ample information sur

FiRECAM™, une brève description en anglais est jointe. Le logiciel FiRECAM™

est actuellement seulement disponible en anglais, mais si une demande

importante est constatée, il est possible que le logiciel soit éventuellement traduit

en français.

En complétant ce questionnaire, il n'y a aucune obligation de votre part d'acheter

le logiciel. Ce questionnaire est seulement un moyen pour nous aider à mesurer

l'intérêt porté à FiRECAM™. Les informations recueillies par ce questionnaire

seront tenues confidentielles.

Merci de consacrer votre temps précieux à remplir et retrouver ce questionnaire.

Si vous avez des questions concernant ce questionnaire, contactez nous par

téléphone au (613) 993-2204.

Sincères salutations,

David Yung, Ph.D., Ing.

Chef d'équipe

Sécurité incendie bâtiments résidentiels et commerciaux

Q

UESTIONNAIRE SUR

F

I

RECAM™

1. Seriez-vous intéressé à obtenir une copie du logiciel FiRECAM™ sous license?

θ

Oui

θ

Non

2. Combien seriez-vous prêt à payer pour une copie du logiciel FiRECAM™?

θ

Un montant minimal, sans support technique ni programme de formation

θ

Un montant plus substantiel avec support technique et un programme de formation pour apprendre à utiliser le logiciel

Commentaires: ____________________________________________ 3. Dans quel but prévoyez-vous utiliser FiRECAM™?

θ

Design

θ

Recherche

θ

Réglementation Autres:_______________________ 4. Dans quel domaine être-vous?

θ

Consultant

θ

Recherche en incendie

θ

Agent du bâtiment

θ

Service d'incendie

θ

Manufacturier

θ

Assurance Autres:_______________________

5. Seriez-vous intéressé à collaborer dans le développement future de modèles d'évaluation coûts-risques incendie?

θ

Oui

θ

Non

6. Commentaires additionnels:_____________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ Information Nom: __________________________________ Position_______________________