Health and safety code compliance checking using an integrated hypertext and knowledge-based expert system

Several older buildings have been found to violate the building code requirements with respect to health and safety of occupants. In order to ensure compliance, building managers and inspectors require a thorough knowledge of code documents and expertise to assess the seriousness of violations. The present study aims at developing a computer tool integrating hyperlext and knowledge-based system techniques to facilitate code compliance checking and provide access to case studies of problem scenarios. The knowledge-base has been developed by extracting the relevant portions of the building code and these have been represented as rules. The case siudies information has been extracted from recent studies carried out by Public Works Canada. Typical interaction with the expert system will lead the user through a hierarchy of potential problems and identify the specific code requirement that is violated. Expert assistance in the form of explanations, reference to similar problem scenarios and interpretations to the code will be provided to the user. A framework to develop such a prototype system named HASES (Health and Safety Expert System) is presented. The ultimate objective of this system is to provide field inspectors with expert assistance, reference material and report writing using IBM-PC notepad/portable computers.