Overview
ISO/TR 17755:2014 - Fire safety: Overview of national fire statistics practices is a Technical Report published by ISO/TC 92 that compiles national practices for collecting and reporting fire statistics. It assembles survey results from ten countries (Australia, Canada, China, France, Japan, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Russia, United Kingdom, USA) and organizes findings to inform model parameter estimation used in ISO/TC 92 fire safety standards. The report includes the survey instrument (Annex A), references and coding manuals (Annex B), and additional coding detail for Japan (Annex C).
Key Topics
The report is organized into thematic clauses covering practical data‑collection topics rather than normative requirements. Major topics include:
- Methods of estimation and use of statistical projection versus census-style reporting (notably Japan and the USA reported use of projection)
- Scope of reporting: which fires, deaths, injuries and property losses are recorded
- Victim and incident characteristics: age, gender, location, building type, height and construction
- Causes and ignition sources: deliberate fires, natural causes, exposure, smoking materials, heating, cooking, clothes dryers, entertainment and office equipment
- Mitigation and detection: sprinklers, detection and alarm systems, extinguishers, smoke management, compartmentation (fire doors, firewalls)
- Coding practices and national variations: country‑by‑country breakdowns for each data element and practical implications for comparability
Applications
ISO/TR 17755:2014 is designed to support:
- Standards developers (ISO/TC 92) in estimating model parameters where national fire statistics inform performance or risk models
- Fire statisticians and researchers needing a comparative overview of international reporting practices and coding conventions
- Policy makers and public safety planners who rely on consistent incident data to set priorities and evaluate fire prevention programs
- Fire services and data managers seeking best practices for incident coding and reporting
- Insurers and risk analysts who use national statistics for loss modelling and benchmarking
Who Should Use It
Practitioners involved in fire data collection, national statistical agencies, fire brigades, standards committees, researchers, and organizations that depend on accurate fire incident reporting will find practical value in the report’s cross‑national comparisons and documented survey instrument.
Related Standards
While this Technical Report is informational, it directly supports ISO/TC 92 standards that require model inputs based on national fire statistics. Annex B points to national coding manuals and statistical resources useful for aligning reporting practice.