Human factors influencing fire safety measures

Abstract

In recent years, there were several incidents of fire in secondary schools in Malaysia. A study conducted by the Ministry of Education has found that there were outbreaks of fire in 22 primary and secondary schools and in institutions of higher learning for the year 1999 resulting in losses of RM 534,400. This study was carried out to identify fire safety conditions in residential colleges in a local Malaysian university. An audit approach as well as the use of questionnaire was adopted to collect primary data for the study. The audit results show that the overall fire safety condition was at 76 percent compliance level. The survey results showed that only predisposing factors such as knowledge, attitude and belief have a positive relationship with the fire safety behavior and lifestyle (p<0.5). The survey identified six important elements for fire safety and in ranking order they are: belief in the importance of fire safety, perception on the need for immediate response to fire incidence, knowledge in fire safety, attitude of occupants, social influence, and feedback on fire safety issues.

Citation

Subramaniam, C. (2004), "Human factors influencing fire safety measures", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 110-116. https://doi.org/10.1108/09653560410534243