Model for Human Performance During Fires

A Brief Introduction to the Basic Principles of Human Performance during Fires, and a Simple Model

Human performance is contextual and holistic.

"Contextual" means that people always respond to the situations in which they find themselves. "Situations" are those characteristics of the context or environment as they are the person interprets them. Only a small amount of the available information in a context becomes part of the situation, because people are only capable of processing relatively small amounts of information at any given moment. "Holistic" means that human performance can only be understood and predicted by examining how persons interact with the contexts of their behaviors.

Context can be divided into two basic categories: physical and social.
The attributes of persons can also be divided into two categories: physical capabilities and cognitive capabilities.

A graphical representation

In the model described graphically below, all of the factors that impact human performance during fires are categorized according to the various interactions between context and the capabilities of people. Click on any of the double-ended arrows. You will find details about three types of interactions:

Cognitive capabilities of people interact with context. For example, a person's role as a waitress leads her to help her customers before she evacuates during a fire.
Physical capabilities of people interact with context. For example, a person's mobility limitations prevent him from using stairs to leave a burning building.
Cognitive and physical capabilities together interact with context. For example, an intoxicated person fails to wake up to a loud fire alarm signal.

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