023 - Risk assessment with Maximum Allowable Damage with Jaime Cadena Gomez and David Lange

Risk as a concept is well established in modern Performance-Based Design in Fire Safety Engineering. However, it comes in many flavours - from a simple calculation of consequences vs probability, through indexing methods and using some arbitrary measures (number of fatalities, cost of damage etc.). Most of these methods focus on the value or threshold of the risk... while my today's guests seem to focus much more on the process itself.Today I'm happy to host Dr Jaime Cadena Gomez (UQ, Transurban) and Dr David Lange from UQ, who will introduce us to the Maximum Allowable Damage risk assessment methodology. Two unique things about this approach are:1) you calculate the inherent risk of your building, and start working towards solutions from this point, making the whole engineering process better aligned with delivery of a *true* safety, rather than compliance.2) you focus on the process and not on the measure. This means you understand the building so much better, can include other parties and authorities in the process.If you are a Fire Safety Engineer you should listen to this episode. Even if the method will not be useful for you, the discussion is definitely refreshing.Connect to my guests:Jaime Cadena on LinkedinDavid Lange on LinkedinA short introduction to Jaime's work:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6YOBkS9UdsRead more on the Maximum Allowable Damage methodology at: Jaime's PhD thesisCadena et al. Overcoming risk assessment limitations for potential fires in a multi-occupancy buildingCadena et al. Uncertainty-based decision-making in fire safety: Analyzing the alternatives----The Fire Science Show is produced by the Fire Science Media in collaboration with OFR Consultants. Thank you to the podcast sponsor for their continuous support towards our mission.