Codes and standards published by NFPA are displayed as read-only under license from NFPA solely for use within this system. NFPA material may not be downloaded, printed, reproduced, or transferred.

Apply the updated edition of NFPA 101A, Guide on Alternative Approaches to Life Safety, to correctly determine equivalencies and avoid dangerous and costly errors.

Be prepared to confidently determine equivalencies - or evaluate if something maintains an adequate level of life safety - with the latest edition of NFPA 101A, Guide on Alternative Approaches to Life Safety. Essential for facility managers, inspectors, and code enforcers, NFPA 101A is used alongside NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®, to facilitate equivalency requests using numerically based fire safety evaluation systems (FSESs). Mandatory values in each FSES reflect the requirements of the 2021 edition of NFPA 101.

NFPA 101A, Guide on Alternative Approaches to Life Safety, provides FSESs for a wide range of occupancy types. Each chapter presents a different system and includes the following occupancies:

• Health care
• Residential board and care
• Detention and correctional
• Business
• Educational

NFPA 101A, Guide on Alternative Approaches to Life Safety, has seen numerous updates for the 2022 edition, including the following:

• Changes for mandatory safety values in the various fire safety evaluation systems
• Recognition of a 12-year compliance window for automatic sprinkler systems in existing high-rise buildings containing health care occupancies
• Revised numerical FSES scoring models to reflect the changes in the 2021 edition of NFPA 101, Life Safety Code

NFPA 101A, Guide on Alternative Approaches to Life Safety, also contains:

• Timesaving forms for recording building and life safety features
• Related worksheets
• Tools used to present an equivalency request to the authority having jurisdiction (AHJ)
• Procedure for determining evacuation capability in existing board and care facilities

Use the 2022 edition of NFPA 101A, Guide on Alternative Approaches to Life Safety, to help ensure that equivalency is measured accurately against the requirements of the 2021 edition of NFPA 101. (Print, 96 pp., 2022)