- Author
-
Weiner, M.
- Title
- Economic Costs of Fire.
- Coporate
- Home Office, London, England
- Report
-
Home Office Research Study 229
October 2001
40 p.
- Distribution
- FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: RDS Website (publications are available to be read on screen or downloaded for printing): http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/index.html FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Home Office, Research, Development and Statistics Directorate, Communications Development Unit, Room 201, Home Office, 50 Queen Anne's Gate, London SW1H 9AT. Telephone: 020 7273 2084 (answerphone outside of office hours), Fax: 010 7222 0211, Email: [email protected]
- Keywords
-
costs
|
economic factors
|
fire statistics
|
decision making
|
methodology
|
fire protection
|
fire departments
|
building fires
|
false alarms
|
arson
|
damage
|
sensitivity analysis
|
commercial buildings
|
residential buildings
|
fire safety
|
fire insurance
- Identifiers
- England; Wales
- Abstract
- The Home Office has been conducting a research programme to develop the previous estimates of the cost of fire produced by Roy (1997), with a view to updating the estimates and to develop measures of the average cost per fire. This work has been conducted in collaboration with the Fire Safety Advisory Board (FSAB), a body established to take a strategic overview of, and advise ministers on, all general fire safety matters. The FSAB represents the interests not only of the Fire Service and various government departments, but also of the private sector. This paper forms a report to the board on the progress of research so far, along with suggestions for future developments. The Home Office previously estimated the cost of fire in England and Wales in 1993 to be around 4.5bn (Roy, 1997). This demonstrates the size of the impact of fire, but provides little information on the relative impacts of different categories of fire, such as by location or cause. Without this information it is difficult to assess the relative benefit of fire policy and regulations which may have very different impacts for different types of fire. Decisions are being made continually on how to reduce the impact of fire. How much to spend on a TV advertising campaign, what fire protection and safety measures should be provided, and so on. However, if we cannot assess the benefit of the reduction in fire, it is difficult to assess which measures are the most cost-effective, and which provide the greatest benefit to society. The aim of the research was to develop estimates of the cost per fire for different types of fire, for use in policy appraisals. It was envisaged that this could eventually form part of a performance indicator. This would allow fire policy to follow in the footsteps of criminal policy, and the crime reduction programme, in quantifying and comparing the costs and benefits of policy interventions. It would also assist in measuring performance against the Home Office aim 'to reduce the incidence of fire and related death, injury and damage.'. Following the re-organisation of departmental responsibilities after the 2001 general election, responsibility for the Fire Service and fire policy was transferred from the Home Office to the Department of Transport and Local Government and the Regions (DTLR). The DTLR Business Plan 2001 includes an objective to "improve health and safety by reducing risks from work activities, buildings and fire", which is similar in scope to the former Home Office aim.