scope:

Application.

This guide consists of a number of alternative approaches to life safety. Each chapter is a different system independent of the others and is to be used in conjunction with the 2015 edition of NFPA 101.

This edition of NFPA 101A contains alternative approaches that are tied to NFPA 101. Each of these systems is recognized by the Life Safety Code, in its Annex A, as a method that can be used to assist the authority having jurisdiction in determining equivalent compliance with various chapters of the Code.

The method described in this guide is an index method. Index methods are a type of qualitative risk assessment. Quantitative risk assessments can also be used to evaluate designs that are proposed as alternative approaches to life safety. For information on developing fire risk assessments, see the SFPE Engineering Guide to Fire Risk Assessment. Guidance on reviewing fire risk assessments can be found in NFPA 551.

For further information on alternative approaches to fire safety, see "Systems Approach to Fire-Safe Building Design," Section 1, Chapter 9, of the 20th edition of the NFPA Fire Protection Handbook and the SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering, 4th edition, Section 3, "Hazard Calculations," and Section 5, Chapter 10, "Fire Risk Indexing."