Abstract
As a result of a rapid increase in fire fatalities among residents in board and care homes, the National Bureau of Standards developed an Evacuation Difficulty Index for use in determining how much building fire protection should be required in individual board and care homes. The Index is a ratio, where the numerator is a sum of the assistance needs of residents, and the denominator is the availability of staff. The assistance needs of residents are rated on behaviorally-anchored scales that represent “risk factors.” The risk factors were identified by an expert panel's informal analysis of everyday assistance needs that must also be provided during fire emergencies, an approach adapted from research on synthetic job validation. The panel also helped determine scale values for risk factors. Three studies of inter-rater reliability led to further revisions, and the system was field tested in 151 facilities.
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