Client:  New Zealand Fire Service Commission

Date:   February 2007

Author(s):  Kel Sanderson, Mark Goodchild, Dr Ganesh Nana, Adrian Slack

The NZ Fire Service Contestable Research Fund commissioned BERL to complete a programme of research with the objective of establishing a technically robust and defensible fire-related Value of a Statistical Life (VOSL) for use in Regulatory Impact Statements.

BERL recommends that the VOSL for fire regulatory statements be set in the range of NZ$1.7 million to NZ$2.02 million in 2006 prices.  Judgement indicates that the fire VOSL in New Zealand be set at two-thirds of the road VOSL, namely NZ$2.04 million in 2006 prices, and that this figure be revised with reference to the periodical adjustment in the value of the New Zealand road VOSL.

BERL ref # 4440