Introduction
Risk Analysis is a part of every accreditation or Standard of Cover (SOC) study. Risk Analysis has traditionally focused on categorizing risk types and quantifying risk scores. But geographical analysis of risks has increased the importance of risk analysis in deployment decisions especially when satellite and aerial imagery is used.
Fire departments may have been frustrated by early Risk Analysis tools:
| 1. | No import capability. All data needed to be typed-in. |
| 2. | Fixed risk types. |
| 3. | Fixed risk scoring methods. |
| 4. | No ability to merge-in related occupancy data. |
| 5. | No ability to export risk data. |
| 6. | No interface with incident history. |
| 7. | No interface for geographical analysis. |
NFIRS 5 Alive overcomes all of these limitations in it's Risk Analysis module. It's flexible, configurable and powerful.
ISO Spreadsheets
Many fire departments have requested a spreadsheet of occupancy data provided by the ISO. While some of ISO's inspection data may be years old, the ISO spreadsheets provide a great start when assembling Risk Analysis data.
Here's how to load ISO spreadsheet data into the Risk Analysis module.
| 1. | Make a copy of your ISO spreadsheet file. |
| 2. | Open the copy of the spreadsheet in Excel. |
| 3. | Delete the first column of data. |
| 4. | Under the File menu save the spreadsheet as tab delimited text. |
| 5. | Open NFIRS 5 Alive and press the Risks button. |
| 6. | Select "Import Risks Text Files" under the "Export / Import Options" button. |
| 7. | Click on "ISO Spreadsheet". |
| 8. | Check the "Import Only" checkbox. |
| 9. | Press the "Import Only" button. |
| 10. | Press "Done" to review imported risks |
Other Data Sources
Risks may be imported from any source. So if you prefer to load RMS Occupancy data or tax data you may do so by identifying the field order of the import, saving the name of the import and pressing the "Import Data" button. In each case NFIRS 5 Alive will import delimited text files. You can also name, save and reuse your import format.
Merging Data from Other Sources
You may also merge data from other sources. If merging make sure the first column identifies unique data in both the Risk Analysis module as well as the data source. So if you have loaded Occupancy data from an RMS system make sure the 1st Column is a unique record identifier like Occupancy ID number. Use that unique Occupancy ID number when merging-in new data.