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Fire Safety Awareness and Management in Multi-Storey Students’ Hostels

Article  in  Asian Journal of Applied Sciences · January 2016

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 Asian Journal of Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2321 – 0893)
Volume 04 – Issue 02, April 2016

Fire Safety Awareness and Management in Multi-Storey

Students’ Hostels
Kofi Agyekum1*, Joshua Ayarkwa2 and De-Graft Joe Opoku.3
1
Department of Building Technology
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Kumasi, Ghana)
2
Department of Building Technology
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Kumasi, Ghana)
3
Department of Building Technology
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Kumasi, Ghana)

*
Corresponding author’s name: agyekum.kofi1 [AT] gmail.com

_________________________________________________________________________________
ABSTRACT— Achieving an acceptable level of fire safety in university students’ hostels is of utmost importance.
Fire resulting from students’ hostels can cause devastating effects if appropriate fire safety management measures are
not put in place. This study presents the results of a questionnaire survey which sought to assess the perceptions of
students on fire safety awareness and management in multi-storey hostels around the Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science and Technology (KNUST) campus. Data obtained from the study was analyzed by mean score rankings and
percentages. The findings of the study, showed that majority of the respondents do not attach seriousness to the issue
of fire safety in the various hostels surveyed, as such, fire safety awareness and management is low amongst most of
the hostel occupants. The results further showed that ‘storage of flammable materials in safe areas’, ‘provision of
clear signage indicating exit routes and location of fire safety equipment’, regular inspection and maintenance of
electrical installations’, ‘regular inspection and maintenance of fire safety equipment’, and ‘accessibility to fire
hydrants’ are key practices which if implemented by management could control the outbreak of fire in the hostels.
Although this study focuses on multi-storey students’ hostels around KNUST campus, the findings should be of
relevance to other hostels located within and around the campuses of other universities in Ghana.

Keywords— Fire safety management, Ghana, KNUST, Occupants, students‟ hostels

_________________________________________________________________________________

1. INTRODUCTION
It is widely accepted that fire is one of the greatest threats not only to building occupants, but also to building fabrics
and contents [1]. The occurrence of fire disasters is not a new phenomenon in Ghanaian history. In 1983, the fires that
engulfed Ghana has been a main point of reference in the record of the country and the severe hunger that came with
those fires left an indelible mark in the minds of most people. A statement issued by the Ghana National Fire Service on
Tuesday, 13th January, 2015 indicated that between January 1 and January 7 of that year, 160 fire outbreaks had been
recorded [2]. Higher institutions such as universities and colleges have not been left off the hook as far as fire outbreaks
are concerned. For instance, halls of residences and hostels situated on and around Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science and Technology (KNUST), where a large proportion of students reside have substantially experienced the fury of
these fires recently. The top floor of Crystal Rose, a hostel situated at Kentinkrono, a surrounding of KNUST was gutted
by fire. Even though there were no casualties, many items such as television sets, fridges, gas stoves and cylinders
belonging to the students were destroyed, and it took fire personnel more than two-and-half hours to bring the fire under
control. In a similar development, students residing at Sir Max, which is also a hostel situated at Kentinkrono were left
stranded after fire gutted and destroyed the hostel. Students‟ laptops, books, electrical appliances, clothes amongst a raft
of personal items were totally decimated in the fire. These upheavals give a clear indication of the severity of the impact
of fire outbreaks in students‟ hostels and how necessary it has become to embrace full fire safety management to combat
this prevalent problem.

This issue calls to mind the role hostel management and occupants can play in order to ensure complete safety of life
and property. It is in the light of these problems that this study was undertaken to assess the perceptions of students on
fire safety awareness and management in multi-storey students‟ hostels around the Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science and Technology campus. To achieve this aim, the researchers sought to assess the level of fire safety awareness

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among occupants living in multi-storey hostels, identify the firefighting equipment available in the hostels under study,
and to identify fire safety management practices which needs to be put in place by management to control the outbreak of
fire in the hostels. Although this study focuses on multi-storey students‟ hostels around KNUST campus, the findings
should be relevant to other hostels located within and around the campuses of other universities in Ghana.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Fire safety management
Fire normally takes place without any warning. When this happens, building occupants are restricted in the amount of
time they have to either extinguish the fire or to escape [1]. According to Spadaccini [3], when fire is not effectively
controlled, people may suffer injuries and at times death. There is also destruction of properties, temporary or permanent
closure of buildings, among other things. As a result of this, it is always advisable that proper fire safety management
measures are put in place to control the situation.

Fire safety management has been studied by many researchers across the globe [4, 5, 6, 1, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11]. This is
because the fire safety community has recognized the importance of good fire management to reduce the vast increase in
accidental fires [12]. The provision of appropriate fire safety measures within buildings has until recent years generally
been considered as a legislative issue determined by prescriptive standards for construction and compartmentation [13].
Managing fire safety has to be a continuum covering the whole life of a building starting with the initial design and
covering all aspects of its occupation, maintenance, modification and decommissioning and demolition [13]. According
to Chow [8], “the main objectives of fire safety management include: to ensure that the fire safety measures provided are
kept in good order; to initiate actions in case of fire which would help occupants to reach a safe place; and to review
adequacy of existing fire safety measures where there is a change of building, a change of building use and new
technology on fire services installation”.

According to Nadzim and Taib [14], fire safety management is the combination of or co-ordination of some
activities or programs towards the prevention of damage from fire. Such programs include fire drill training, staff
training, fire preventive measures, escape routes, etc. Fire safety management can also be defined as “the application by a
manager of policy, standards, tools, information and practices to the task of analyzing, evaluating and controlling fire
safety” [11]. Shipp [15] had described it as an “ongoing process throughout the life cycle of a building”, a view
supported by Todd [16] who stated that “fire safety management cannot be clipped on from time to time” as appropriate
management arrangements may be or are a legal requirement. According to Della-Giustina [17], when an effective fire
safety management is properly and carefully developed, the end results can include reduced property insurance
premiums, prevention of business interruptions, boosting customer services and public images, among others.
Ramachandran [18] asserts that safety is the complement of antithesis of risk. Safety will be increased if the risk is
reduced. The objective of fire safety/risk management is therefore to reduce risk to life and property to very low levels
acceptable to a property owner and society at large. This aim can be achieved by carrying out fire prevention activities
which would reduce the frequency of fires significantly and installing passive and active fire protection measures which
would minimize the damage when the fire occurs. By effective maintenance, it is necessary to ensure that, when a fire
occurs, all the safety measures provided will be available for use and will perform satisfactorily. It is also necessary to
provide adequate fire insurance cover for direct and consequential losses [18].

The fire prevention, protection and insurance measures mentioned above are to be undertaken before the occurrence
of any fire in a building. When a fire occurs, appropriate actions planned well in advance should be initiated to provide
all the help and assistance for occupants to reach places of safety inside or outside the building involved in the fire. These
include fire drills and staff training in the use of first-aid fire-fighting methods such as fire extinguishers. Actions to be
taken after a fire is extinguished include salvage operations, repairs to parts of the building damaged by the fire, and
submission of claim for insurance compensation. These actions are to ensure that the activity interrupted by the fire is
restarted as soon as possible [18].
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The study was undertaken to assess the level of fire safety awareness among students living in multi-storey hostels,
identify the firefighting equipment available in the hostels under study, and to identify fire safety management practices
which need to be put in place by management to control the outbreak of fire in the hostels. Data for the study was
collected through a questionnaire survey. Respondents comprised of continuing students living in 11 multi-storey hostels
around Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology campus. For the purposes of this study, multi-storey
hostels were classified as those hostels that were three or more storeys high. There are quite a number of multi-storey
hostels around the school. However, only those that were registered with the school were considered. Hostels that fell
within this category were only eleven, and continuing students who were in 2nd to 6th years of their studies were

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considered. At KNUST, students are obliged to move out of their halls of residences after their first year in school. Hence
conducting a survey on the continuing students gave a clear perspective of the problem under investigation. In all, a total
of 220 respondents were conveniently selected for the study. The questionnaire was made up of closed-ended questions.
However, the respondents were provided with the options of providing further comments when the need arose. A small
scale pilot survey was carried out on the questionnaire with 20 students living in some of the hostels. Some concerns
were raised about some few issues, which were later modified and sent out.

The questionnaires distributed to the respondents sought information on the profiles of the respondents. Among the
questions asked were their genders, age distributions, levels (years of study) in the university, period of stay in the
hostels, and experiences with fire outbreaks. The questionnaire also sought information about the availability of
firefighting equipment in the hostels and students‟ abilities to operate such equipment. Also, the students‟ level of fire
safety awareness in the hostels were sought. Finally, the views of the respondents were sought on the fire safety
management practices which need to be put in place by the management of the hostels to control the outbreak of fire.

A quantitative approach to data analysis was employed. Data was analyzed by mean score rankings and percentages.
The mean values were obtained by the formula: , where, f is the frequency of score i for the factor
concerned. For this study, a factor was deemed significant if it had a mean value of 2.5 or more. Where two or more
variables had the same mean, the one with the lowest deviation was assigned the highest significance ranking. Similarly,
the significance level was set at 95% in accordance with orthodox risk levels [19]. Field [20] suggested that with a
sample size of more than 50, the sampling distribution would most of the times approach normal distribution. Seemingly,
this study‟s sample size (N = 220) is in accordance with that recommended by Field.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Profile of the respondents
A total of 220 target respondents were identified and survey questionnaires were administered to them. Effectively,
only 177 responded to the questionnaire, achieving an 80% response rate. The high response rate is attributed to the fact
that the questionnaires were administered to respondents and successive follow-ups were made thereafter.

Table 1 presents the demography of the respondents. From Table 1, it can be seen that majority of the respondents
representing 92% were males whiles a relatively small proportion representing 8% were females. Generally the
percentage of males on KNUST outweighs that of females. It is not very surprising that this result was attained for the
genders. With respect to the ages of the respondents, 53% fell within the age group of 21-25 years, whiles 38% fell below
20 years old. Only 9% were above 25 years old. Of late, most of the matured candidates prefer the distance learning
education as compared to the regular ones. This could possibly be a reason why the respondents who fell within the age
category of above 25 years were few. The results also give an indication of a very youthful student population.

With reference to the levels of the respondents in the university, Table 1 shows that 59% of the respondents were 2nd
years, 26% were 3rd years, 14% were 4th years whiles 1% were in their 5th to 6th years. With the period of stay of the
students in the hostels, twenty of the respondents, representing 11% had stayed in the hostels for less than a year, 121
representing 68% had stayed between 1-2 years, 31 representing 18% had stayed for a period of 2-3 years, and 5,
representing 3% had stayed for 3-4 years. This result obtained is very good. This is because about 89% of the
respondents had stayed in their respective hostels for about 1-4 years. As a result they knew the conditions in the hostels,
and were in better positions to give more reliable data.

With respondents‟ experiences with regards to fire outbreaks in their respective hostels, 3% had experienced
outbreaks in one way or the other. However, 97% had not experienced any outbreaks at all.

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Table 1: Respondents‟ information

Frequency Percent
Gender Male 162 92
Female 15 8
Total 177 100.0
Age distribution of respondents Below 20 years 68 38
21-25 years 94 53
Above 25 years 15 9
Total 177 100.0
Level in the university 2nd year 104 59
3rd year 46 26
4th year 25 14
5th - 6th years 2 1
Total 177 100
Period of stay in the hostel 0-1 year 20 11
1-2 years 121 68
2-3 years 31 18
3-4 years 5 3
Total 177 100.0
Experience with fire outbreak Yes 5 3
No 172 97
Total 177 100.0

4.2 Availability of firefighting equipment in the hostels

Firefighting equipment are provided in buildings to provide means of controlling fires at the initial stages even before
personnel from the fire departments are called unto the scene of the incident. Such equipment provide first-aid means to
extinguish flames before the situation is aggravated. A list of commonly used first aid firefighting equipment were listed
in the questionnaire for the respondents to indicate whether such equipment were available in their respective hostels or
otherwise. An option was also provided for those who could not confirm the existence of these equipment.

Table 2 presents the views of the respondents on the various firefighting equipment present in the hostels. On the
average, only 12% of the respondents within all the hostels could identify carbon dioxide extinguishers, dry chemical
extinguishers, fire alarm systems, in that order as the major firefighting equipment available in their hostels. The results
further show that the carbon dioxide firefighting equipment (68%) was the most common. Table 2 further shows that
46% of the respondents from the hostels surveyed could not identify any of these firefighting equipment in their
respective hostels. Also, on the average, 42% of the respondents did not know whether any of these firefighting
equipment existed in their respective hostels or not. In summary, it can be seen from Table 2 that majority of the
respondents were of the opinion that firefighting equipment were either unavailable or they could not confirm their
existence in their respective hostels. An obvious explanation is the fact that most of the management of these hostels do
not attach importance to issues regarding fire safety and as such have failed to provide these equipment. On the part of
the students residing in such hostels, they had not bothered to find out if these equipment were available or not, an
indication of the passive attitude of occupants towards their own fire safety. This scenario is very dangerous, as the
unavailability of firefighting equipment, and the lack of knowledge of these equipment among some students in various
hostels pose greater risks in case of any fire outbreaks.

4.3 Ability to operate firefighting equipment

Table 3 shows that for the most common firefighting equipment that were present, the respondents could either
operate them or not. The results further show that for the dry chemical extinguishers, 23% of the respondents could
operate them, with 77% not able to do so. For the carbon dioxide extinguishers, 37% of the respondents could operate
them, whereas 63% could not. Similar scenarios can be seen for the foam cylinders, hose reels and the fire blankets.
Table 3 further shows that for all the common firefighting equipment, majority of the respondents (above 60%) could not
operate them. This finding shows that in the case of fire outbreaks, the fire is likely to spread because the occupants could
only make minimal efforts to extinguish it in the absence of the fire department. This is because respondents are not well
equipped to operate first aid firefighting equipment even in a situation where they may have been installed. It is very
important for hostel managements to organize fire training sessions for occupants in various hostels even after the
various first aid firefighting equipment have been installed.

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Table 2: Availability of firefighting equipment

Fire Available Unavailable Do not know
Tot
Equipme Freq Percent Aver Freque Percent Aver Freque Percen Aver al
nt uency age age ncy age age ncy tage age
Dry chemical
27 15% 65 37% 85 48% 177
extinguishers
Carbon
dioxide 120 68% 12 7% 45 25% 177
extinguishers
Hose reels - - 98 55% 79 45% 177
Sprinklers 7 4% 97 55% 73 41% 177
Fire blankets 10 5% 12% 86 49% 46% 81 46% 42% 177
Dry rises 1 1% 96 54% 80 45% 177
Fire detectors 4 2% 93 53% 80 45% 177
Smoke
11 6% 87 49% 79 45% 177
detectors
Heat detectors 10 6% 87 49% 80 45% 177
Fire alarm
22 12% 93 53% 62 35% 177
system

Table 3: Ability to operate firefighting equipment

Able to operate/use Unable to operate/use
Fire Equipment Total
Number Percent (%) Number Percent (%)
Dry chemical extinguishers 41 23 136 77 177
Carbon dioxide extinguishers 66 37 111 63 177
Foam cylinders 27 15 150 85 177
Hose reels 18 10 159 90 177
Fire blankets 18 10 159 90 177

4.4 Level fire safety awareness

Fire safety awareness helps to recognize the danger of fire, know what to do to prevent fire, as well as what action to
take in case one happens. People with knowledge about fire safety will purchase fire devices and also prepare their
families and employees to take immediate action to prevent death, injury and destruction of property whenever disaster
strikes [21]. The awareness of respondents of fire safety are presented to include:

Occupants’ perception of fire disaster preparedness: Respondents were asked how prepared they were in case of fire
disasters. Table 4 shows the results obtained from the data. The findings show that all the respondents saw the need to
prepare for fire disasters in case there is one.

Awareness of existence and location of emergency exits: The views of the respondents were also sought on the
awareness of existence and location of emergency exits within their hostels. Only 60% of the respondents responded
„yes‟, indicating that they were aware of any such exits. The remaining 40% were not aware of any thing of such sort in
their hostels. The result is not encouraging. This is because fire exits or escape routes is supposed to be a necessity in
every building, be it residential or commercial. Students not being aware of such exits could mean that the exits do not
exist or the students had not been trained for the need and use of such exits.

Configuration of doors to escape routes: Respondents were further asked how the doors in their hostels were
configured to enable them escape in terms of fire outbreaks. Table 4 shows that 31% of the respondents had the doors to
their hostels opening indoors, 22% had their doors opening outwards, only 1% had it to be sliding, 5% had it to be
revolving, with 42% not knowing how their doors were configured. From this finding, it is presumed that about 42% of
hostel occupants are likely to be stranded at emergency exits even if they are able to make it to the escape doors.

Keys to the escape doors: It is always important for occupants to a building to have extra keys to escape doors within
the building. Escape doors in most cases are provided to enable occupants flee in case of fire outbreaks. The views of the
respondents were sought on who kept the keys to the escape doors within the hostels. The results show that more than
half of the respondents (52%) were not aware of the person who held the keys to escape doors. This „I do not care‟

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attitude on the parts of students is very serious. In the case of this finding, students are highly unlikely to be able to
access escape doors in case of any fire emergency.

Number of fire training sessions organized by hostel management: The views of the students were further sought on
the number of fire training sessions organized for them. The results show that about 88% of the respondents had not had
any fire training sessions organized by hostel management for them at all. It can be deduced from the results that while
fire safety training is instrumental in enhancing the fire safety awareness of occupants, hostel management have not been
very responsible in organizing these sessions for the students residing in their hostels.

Table 4: Statistics on fire safety awareness

Fire safety awareness Frequency Percent
Very important
Occupants’ perception of the fire disaster preparedness 154 87
Important 22 12
Fairly important 1 1
Total 177 100.0
Awareness of existence and location of emergency exits Yes 106 60
No 71 40
Total 177 100.0
Configuration of doors to escape routes Inward 55 31
Outward 38 22
Sliding 2 1
Revolving 8 5
Do not know 74 42
Total 177 100.0
Keys to the escape doors Hostel manager 1 1
Porter 62 35
Security man 15 9
Hostel president 7 4
Do not know 92 52
Total 177 100.0
Number of training sessions organized by hostel management One 23 10
Two 2 1
Four 2 1
None 150 88
Total 177 100.0
Number of times you attended training sessions Once 25 14
Twice 8 5
Thrice 2 1
Never 142 80
Total 177 100.0
Condition of existing firefighting equipment Yes 53 30
No 13 7
Not sure 111 63
Total 177 100.0
Frequency of inspection and maintenance of escape routes Very often 2 1
Often 1 1
Rarely 16 9
Less often 2 1
Not often 4 2
Do not know 152 86
Total 177 100.0

Number of times you attended training sessions: respondents were further asked about the number of times they
attended such training sessions. Table 4 again shows that majority (80%) of the respondents had not attended any fire
training sessions at all. This could possibly be due to the fact that only few training sessions are organized among the
hostels, with majority not organizing any at all. Since these trainings are not organized most of the times, students do not
bother themselves to request hostel management to do so for them.

Condition of existing firefighting equipment: As part of the creation of awareness, respondents were asked to indicate
the conditions of existing firefighting equipment available in their various hostels. The results show that only 30% of the
respondents indicated that the firefighting equipment available in their hostels were of good condition. However, 63%

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were not sure whether the equipment in their hostels were in good condition or not. This could probably be due to the
fact that such equipment were not available at all in the hostels, or were available but they could really not access their
conditions because they were not experts in doing so. This notwithstanding, about 63% of hostel occupants who cannot
confirm the current state of existing firefighting equipment, leaves much to be desired when it comes to proactive
attitudes towards fire safety.

Frequency of inspection and maintenance of escape routes: With regards to the frequency of inspection and
maintenance of fire escape routes within the hostels, majority of the respondents (89%) indicated that they did not know
whether such inspections and maintenance of escape routes were conducted in the hostels or not. Only a small minority,
constituting 14% were able to give any definite responses regarding the frequency of inspection and maintenance of
escape routes.

4.5 Fire safety management practices

When fire occurs, appropriate actions planned well in advance should be initiated to provide all the help and assistance
for occupants to reach places of safety inside or outside the building involved in the fire. The views of the respondents
were sought on the fire safety management practices which should be put in place by the management of the hostels to
control fire in case of any outbreaks. The results are presented in Table 5.

Table 5 shows that the mean scores of all the fire safety management practices evaluated by the respondents are
greater than the mean value of 2.5 [21]. This indicates that in the opinion of the respondents all the ten practices are
considered as important in managing fire. The results further show that „storage of flammable materials in a safe area‟,
„provision of clear signage indicating exit routes and location of fire safety equipment‟, regular inspection and
maintenance of electrical installations‟, „regular inspection and maintenance of fire safety equipment‟, and „accessibility
to fire hydrants‟ are the five key practices which if implemented by management could control the outbreak of fire. Other
practices such as „existence of emergency assembly point/shelter for the buildings‟, „availability of an emergency fire
disaster kit‟, „emergency communication systems‟, „existence of emergency population warning methods‟, and „regular
fire and evacuation drills‟ were also considered as significant practices.

These measures identified by the respondents have been presented in Figure 1, which is a brain storming diagram
indicating the fire safety management measures which the respondents considered as significant in controlling the
outbreak of fire in the hostels.

Table 5: Fire safety management practices employed by most management

Fire safety management practices Mean Standard Deviation Rank
Storage of flammable materials in a safe area 4.03 0.850 1
Provision of clear signage indicating exit routes and location of fire safety equipment 3.79 1.140 2
Regular inspection and maintenance of electrical installations 3.65 0.811 3
Regular inspection and maintenance of fire safety equipment 3.57 0.942 4
Accessibility to fire hydrants 3.51 1.120 5
Existence of emergency assembly point/shelter for this building 3.48 1.285 6
Availability of an emergency fire disaster kit 3.28 1.263 7
Emergency communication systems 3.22 1.256 8
Existence of emergency population warning methods 2.65 1.524 9
Regular fire and evacuation drills 2.54 1.411 10

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Figure 1: Fire safety management practices [brainstorming diagram]

5. CONCLUSION
This study was undertaken to assess the perceptions of students on fire safety awareness and management in multi-
storey hostels around the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology campus. To achieve the aim, the
researchers sought to assess the level of fire safety awareness among students living in multi-storey hostels, identify the
firefighting equipment available in the hostels under study, and to identify fire safety management practices which need
to be put in place by management to control the outbreak of fire in the hostels. Based on the findings of the study, it is
clear that majority of the respondents do not attach seriousness to the issue of fire safety. As a result of this, fire safety
awareness is low amongst most of the hostel occupants. Similarly, fire disaster preparedness is obviously low and the
likelihood of extreme danger to life and property in any fire incidence is high. Evidently, hostel management who are
directly responsible for fire safety management have ineffectively executed their responsibilities to keep the students
safe. The situation at hand in most of the hostels is alarming and pragmatic steps should be taken to reduce to the barest
minimum, the possibility of fire outbreaks. As a limitation of this study, the researchers appreciate the fact that the issue
of generalizability is restricted by the geographical location. Due to the nearness in proximity of respondents, the survey
was conducted on only one campus out of the several universities in Ghana. Future works on fire safety awareness and
management can be expanded to other university campuses to know the situations on such campuses. Further research
can also be carried out to investigate the factors that influence fire disaster preparedness amongst hostel occupants.

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