ABSTRACT
Literature overviews Estimates of the Operational Reliability of Fire Protection Systems (Bukowski. R. W., 1999), Automatic Sprinkler System Reliability (Budnick, 2001), and Reliability of Automatic Sprinkler Systems (Koffel, 2006) are used. This book’s authors have concerns about one third of the references. Even if there is a reference to a source, this does not mean the source exists, that cited authors have the right results, or that the authors on the list have read the references. This suggests that not everything is done correctly and therefore a critical review is used. The review concludes that it is not possible to find one given/accepted methodology to collect, analyze, and present reliability data. There is a lack of consensus in the fire safety community about the content and meaning of reliability, with the use of different words for reliability—like success, performance, operating, effectiveness, or operational effectiveness—for sprinkler systems.
