Knowledge about fire safety

measures among health care

professionals of tertiary care
hospital in coastal south India
Dr. Ramesh Holla
Assistant Professor
Department of Community Medicine
Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore
Manipal University, India
1

Introduction
Health care setups are particularly high risk zones
for fires because of the chemicals, materials and
other consumables used.
Hospitals have a hundreds of patients, visitors and
Health care professionals, all of whom are at risk in
case of a fire.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and National
Accreditation
Board
for
Hospitals
&
Healthcare
Providers
(NABH)
have
set
benchmarks for progress of health industry of which
Fire Safety Standards has been given prime
importance.
However, hospitals may be well equipped with all
the gear required to combat a fire emergency, but
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Objectives
To assess the knowledge of health care
professionals (HCP) about fire safety
measures in tertiary care teaching
hospitals.
To determine the application of existing
knowledge in case of fire emergency.

Materials and Methods

Study setting: The study was carried out at tertiary
care teaching hospitals of coastal south India.
Study design: Cross sectional study
Study population: Health care professionals (HCP)
comprising of doctors and paramedical personnel
working in the above mentioned hospitals and who
had a minimum experience of 1 year in the hospital.
Sample Size: The sample size was calculated
assuming 50% of health care professionals are aware of
fire safety measures to be adopted in a fire accident.
Taking 10% absolute precision and 95% confidence
level the sample size was found to be 95. Adding 10%
as non response error, final sample size was calculated
4
to be 105.

Materials and Methods (Contd)

Tools for data collection: Self-administered
semi-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire
consisted of socio-demographic details of
participants, awareness, perception regarding
fire safety measures.
Data collection methodology: Approval was
obtained from the Institutional Ethics Committee
(IEC) before commencement of
the study.
Questionnaire were distributed to the HCP
selected conveniently and requested to fill after
explaining the purpose of the study and after
obtaining the written informed consent.
Data Analysis: The collected data was analyzed
using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social
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Results

Table 1:Baseline characteristics of study

(n = 111) Percentage
Baseline participants
Number
Characteristics

Age group (Years)

20-30

64

57.7

31-40

26

23.4

41-50

16

14.4

>50

05

04.5

Male

58

52.3

Female

53

47.7

Sex

Health care professionals

Doctors

72

64.8

Paramedical personnel

39

35.2

86

77.5

Work experience (Years)

5

Result (Contd)
69.4% of individuals are aware of the nearest fire
escape route in case of fire emergency.
59.5% of individuals are aware of the correct number
to be called in case of fire emergencies.
67.6% of individuals are aware of the location of the
nearest fire extinguishers and 44.1% of the individuals
are aware of the nearest fire alarm.
In case of a fire, 86.5% of the study participants would
activate the fire alarm, 94.6% would call the fire
department and 64.9% would use the staircase
furthest away from the fire.
It was observed from the present study that only 51%
of the study participants knew how to operate a fire
extinguisher.
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Table 2: Distribution of study participants

according to correct usage of fire extinguishers
(n=111 )
Type of Fire Type of Fire Frequency Percentag
Extinguishe of Correct
e
r to be used Response
Class A
Pressurized
54
48.6
Fires: wood, Water
paper,
textiles, etc.
Class B
Carbon
24
21.6
Fires: oil,
Dioxide
paint, grease,
etc.
Outdoor
Dry Chemical
08
07.2
9
Fires
Powder

Table 3: Perception of HCPs towards cause for fire

accident and fire safety measures (n=111)
Statements

Agree Disagr
ee
n (%)
n (%)

Inefficient checks of electric safety

lead to an electrical fire.
Water should be used to put out an
electrical fire.
Electrical defects are one the major
causes of fire in hospitals
Human negligence such as
inattentiveness and smoking in the
hospital is a major cause of fire in
hospitals .
In order to help a person on fire, one
should cover him with a blanket to

Not
sure
n (%)

98
(88)

4 (03)

10 (09)

17
(15)

68 (61)

26
(23)

97
(87)
61
(55)

93
(84)

06 (05)
28 (25)

09 (08)

09 (08)
22 (20)

09 (08)
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Conclusion
Even though knowledge regarding cause for
fire accident and fire safety measures were
found to be good among health care
professionals,
the
application
of
this
knowledge for the type and correct method
of using fire extinguishers was found to be
minimal.

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Limitation
Due to limited time constraint, practical
assessment of knowledge regarding fire
emergency management could not be done.

Recommendation
Mandatory fire management training should
be provided to all the health care
professionals in hospitals.
Mock drills on fire safety should be
conducted periodically.
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Thank you