October 4, 2017, Washington, D.C.
Decision making in the public policy arena is increasingly being based on economic indicators. Both the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the International Code Council (ICC) have been approached by stakeholders wanting more information about the cost-benefit information for code changes or code adoption related to fire or electrical safety.
In today’s environment of extreme economic pressures on local jurisdictions, our enviable success in reducing fire losses has turned the focus more toward the costs of protection. Today’s fire departments and other fire and electrical safety advocates are focused on reducing the overall risk through a combination of protection, prevention, and other programs. They seek tools to evaluate the socio-economic benefit of these interventions to inform policy decisions with cost-benefit information on this aspect of safety.
On October 4 2017, NFPA and ICC hosted “Economic Impact of Codes and Standards: A Workshop on Needs and Resources”, a one day workshop with the purpose to review case studies, data, and methodologies measuring economic impacts from various industries and sectors and assess how they can inform similar studies related to codes and standards. The goal was to develop a list of key methodologies, tools, and data sources to inform economic impact studies related to codes and standards as well as identify next steps related to needs related to this issue.
Download the proceedings. (PDF)