Observation of fire safety provision and factors associated with knowledge, attitude and practices among hostel occupants in a public university in Malaysia
Man-made fire particularly in the multi-dwelling building such as hostel remains to be one of the top priorities in emergency preparedness. Failure to prepare adequately may results in extensive losses not limited to life and health but also in terms of physical and intellectual function as well...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/103918/1/ALWAQFI%20AHMAD%20SAEED%20AHMAD%20-%20IR.pdf http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/103918/ |
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| Summary: | Man-made fire particularly in the multi-dwelling building such as hostel remains to
be one of the top priorities in emergency preparedness. Failure to prepare
adequately may results in extensive losses not limited to life and health but also
in terms of physical and intellectual function as well as morale of those affected.
The objective of the study was to assess the fire safety provisions of hostels and
factors associated with level of knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) in fire
safety and prevention among students (hostel’s occupant) in Universiti Putra
Malaysia’s (UPM) residential colleges.
A cross-sectional study conducted at UPM’s residential colleges from March 2020
to October 2020. An adapted checklist which was cross-referenced to Uniform
Building By-Laws (UBBL) was used to determine the compliance of fire safety
provision of the residential buildings. In term of fire safety provision, all colleges
were included, and a checklist was used in the research to collect data by
observation which was done by researcher with help from the management staff.
Convenient sampling was used to collect KAP on fire safety by online
questionnaire from students. Face validity, content validity, and reliability value of
KAP questionnaire were checked. Multiple logistic regression was used to
investigate factors associated with KAP on fire safety among students.
A total of 283 students took part in the study, and 8 residential colleges were
assessed in term of fire safety provision. Assessment using checklist revealed that
despite available fire safety policy at all residential colleges, there were differences
and inadequacy in terms of fire safety provision which may be attributable to the
different management and operational team. Specifically, there were no uniformity
in terms of investigated provisions (and aspects); prevention of fire occurrence
(control of ignition sources, fuel/heat interaction and fuel characteristics), control
spread of fire (fire detection and combustion control) as well as protection of
building occupants (notification, egress and structural protection) across all
residential colleges.
Prevalence of having acceptable knowledge, positive attitude and good practices
was 62.0%, 87.9% and 49.3% respectively. Multiple logistic regression indicated
that non-Malay students, experiences in fire drill training and hands-on
experiences in fire drill training were significantly associated with knowledge.
However, only hands-on in fire drill training was significantly associated with
attitude (OR= 2.285, 95%CI: 1.048, 4.980, p = 0.038) while total household
monthly income of RM4,850-RM10,959 was significantly associated with practices
(OR= 3.000, 95%CI: 1.181, 7.620, p = 0.021).
Based on findings in this study, there are dire need to address not only the nonuniformity
and inadequacy of fire safety provision across different residential
colleges, but also take into consideration the level of fire safety KAP among
students and its associated factors, to identify the potential risks and developing
programs to enhance fire safety KAP. |
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