Why is Fire Safety Awareness Important ?

Every year thousands of people lose their life or get seriously injured due to fire-related hazards. Many of us believe we may never be in the midst of a fire accident. That is not true. A fire can happen anywhere and at any time. The outbreak of a fire, when not handled carefully, can lead to loss of life as well as valuable assets. When dealing with a fire, it is important to remain alert at all times and follow preventive measures to avoid the chances of fire. Fire safety awareness includes assessing the possible risks that can cause a fire hazard and taking appropriate steps to prevent and minimize the damage caused due to a fire. Basic fire safety plans might involve installation of fire safety equipment and marking safe exits points in the building.


What is Fire Safety Awareness?

  • Fire safety awareness means analyzing the possible risks of fire in your vicinity and taking preventive measures to ensure minimum damage and safe exit of all the person exposed to fire. 

  • Different fire safety awareness approaches are adopted at different locations. However, the priority of every approach is the safe and successful evacuation of people trapped in a building in case of a fire. 

  • For efficient fire safety awareness, proper fire safety training is crucial. A professional fire safety training program involves the necessary steps one must undertake in the event of a fire. 

  • Well planned and practiced fire safety training can prepare you mentally and physically to keep your mind calm during an emergency situation so that you can take the necessary steps to mitigate the damage.



Why is Fire Safety Awareness Important?

  • Fires can take lives and destroy property. If one has to handle a fire without damage then he/she must be aware at all the times. 
  • One of the key strategies while talking about fire safety awareness is identifying the possible fire hazards around you and making sure that a well thought fire safety plan is in motion as soon as a fire breaks out.

Following points make fire safety awareness a crucial practice that must be observed at home, school, workplace and any other place that is prone to fire hazard.


Study finds lack of awareness on fire safety

 

One may feel safe at home but in reality, majority of houses do not have an alarm system or a device for protection from fire, a study has found. Nearly 40 per cent of visitors to hospitals, airports, shopping malls and office buildings in major cities in India were unaware of the location of fire exits, according to a recent joint study by Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) and Honeywell Life Safety (HLS), India. 

It also came to fore that more than one in four people do not follow appropriate fire evacuation procedures in the event of an alarm and about 80 per cent of visitors were not aware of fire alarm procedures, indicating a lack of visible signage and instructions. The study, conducted to raise awareness of the important role that the public plays in fire safety, also showed lack of training or awareness among the workers and visitors to these facilities. Around 50 per cent of the workers, working in the such places, have not participated in a fire drill or other safety training exercise.

"The situation gets much worse in homes where 85 per cent of the respondents said their residence lacked a fire alarm system or detection device," Harish Vellat, Regional Director, Honeywell Life Safety India said while releasing the study. "While almost all of those surveyed said they had fire alarm systems in place, there was a deep lack of awareness of the steps that should be taken if a fire or other critical issue occurs," Vellat said. The survey was conducted in May in eight cities -- Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Kochi, Pune, Bhubaneswar and Indore. It also found that in hospitals, nearly 40 per cent of employees were unaware of fire evacuation procedures. "Fire safety awareness is a crucial factor in avoiding fire-related incidents, and businesses, workers and visitors to their facilities need to equip themselves with basic safety knowledge, as well as ensure that the systems protecting them are appropriately designed for the risk they are protecting against," Vellat said.

Giving details about the study, Mani Pradhan, Senior Research Manager (IMRB) said survey respondents included employees and visitors of airports, shopping malls, hotels and corporate office buildings and belong to socio-economic classification (SEC) A1 and A2 categories.



According to the National Crime Records Bureau, there were a total of 24,232 deaths in 2010-11, or 6.3 per cent of total deaths in India, due to fire accidents.