Data on reliability of sprinkler systems

Abstract

Sprinkler failures to extinguish fires generate a basic need for assessment and increase of reliability of these crucial safety systems. This in turn creates a demand for input data used for reliability assessment. Broadly speaking, data on sprinkler failures is available in large amounts and some countries have well-established systems of data collection and reporting. Data is accumulated in sprinklered environments of conventional buildings and some industrial facilities. The compilation of data sets necessary for reliability assessment may face several problems, The size of the data sets can be limited by such factors as limited relevance of data collected in different sprinklered environments, differences in operation conditions and components, ageing of data colleted in the past, concealment of data and/or high cost of data, poor documentation and explanation of data in available databases. However, the reliability of sprinkler systems can be estimated even with limited data, because such data can be accumulated in many cases and can have an acceptable level of quality.