A Study to Assess Knowledge and Practices regarding Fire Safety among Health care workers in selected Hospitals of Pune City

 

Poonam Jadhav¹, Tanvi K², Snehal B², Shubham R², Abhijit M², Baliram C²*

¹The Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Basic B. Sc Nursing Students,

DE. Society’s S.K. Jindal College of Nursing, Pune 411004.

²Third Year Basic B.Sc Nursing Students, DE. Society’s S.K. Jindal College of Nursing, Pune 411004.

 

ABSTRACT:

Background: Every year, in India, about 25,000 persons die due to fires and related causes. According to India Risk Surveys 2018, outbreak of fire poses risks to business continuity and operations and ranks India at 3rd position in fire incidents, especially in Northern and Western regions of India. Past incidents show that most fire accidents take place due to three major reasons: electrical short circuit and gas cylinder/stove bursts, human negligence, and ill-formed habits. As per the ADSI-2019 report, there were 11,037 fire accidents reported across the country in 2019. The number of such reported fire accidents fell by around 16% compared to 2018. The decline was more steeped compared to the year earlier, which was around 2%. The number of persons injured in fire accidents also more than halved with 441 injured persons in 2019 compared to 1193 in 2015. Fire can happen in very severe condition and so many people and animals dying due to this. It is one of the disasters faced by India. So fire safety and fire measures are one of the important aspects. Most of the fire seen in the hospital areas is due to the gaseous and chemical substances. So, for the prevention of fire or further complications fire safety measures are must. Health care worker know about the fire safety measures and preventions. Subjects and Methods: Setting: The study was conducted at selected Hospitals of the Pune city. subject the study sample comprised 100 health care workers, three tools were used for data collection, namely: Sociodemographic data, structured knowledge questionnaire, structured practice checklist. Results: Statistically significant difference was noticed between sociodemographic variables like age, gender, profession, educational qualification, work experience with Knowledge and practices of health care workers. Conclusion: There was an appreciably good practice about fire safety but they are having poor knowledge regarding fire safety. Recommendation: The study recommended continuous observation of practices can done to evaluate practices of fire safety and interventional study can be conducted to improve knowledge of health care worker.

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Every year, in India, about 25,000 persons die due to fires and related causes. According to India Risk Surveys 2018, outbreak of fire poses risks to business continuity and operations and ranks India at 3rd position in fire incidents, especially in Northern and Western regions of India¹. Most of the fire seen in the hospital areas is due to the gaseous and chemical substances. So, for the prevention of fire or further complications fire safety measures are must. Health care worker know about the fire safety measures and preventions². Fire safety is essential component and requirement in building infrastructure plans. provision of fire safety measures system such as emergency exists, different types of fire extinguishers, safe assembles area, fire hydrant system is mandatory even in hospitalized area³. In Japan, the fire safety regulations are included in the Building Standard Law (BSL) consisting of General Provisions, Building Codes and Zoning Codes. After its establishment in 1950, the BSL has undergone several revisions. Concerning fire safety, the latest reform emphasized the introduction of internationally accepted fire test methods and the possibility of performance based fire regulations. The law to amend the BSL was issued in June 1998. The Enforcement Order and Notifications defining the details of the new fire classification system went into effect in June 2000. In the new Japanese fire classification system, the main test method is the cone calorimeter test ISO 5660-1, applicable to all classes of so-called fire preventive materials The general goal of fire safety regulation is to provide life safety and sufficient protection to property in case of fire. To achieve this goal, requirements for structures, building materials, evacuation arrangements, and relative location of buildings are set to define how building should be designed and constructed for their respective use. The requirement are related to prevention of ignition and fire spread, limitation of fire growth, evacuation provision, load-bearing capacity of structures, and prevention of spread of fire between buildings³. Most fires can be prevented by a few simple precautions and maintenance of fire safety measures. These measures can be incorporated in to buildings either during construction or renovation works. In addition, well trained staff with their knowledge appropriate attitude can play an equally important role in preventing and tackling fires. Fire can be responsible for the loss of jobs, loss of businesses and loss of life as well as serious damage to the environment^4.

 

NEED OF THE STUDY:

A fire can happen at any time at any place irrespective of its occupancy status. You can expect a fire at any structure, may be at your home or at your workplace or in a hospital or in public places like theatres, malls, etc. Fire in any occupancy has the potential to cause harm to its occupants and severe damage to property¹. According to one estimate, the major losses reported by the Indian Insurance Companies in the year 2007-2008 indicate that about 45% of the claims are due to fire losses. Fire losses are reported both in industrial and non-industrial premises like hospitals, commercial complexes, educational institutions, assembly halls, hotels, residential buildings, etc. According to the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India report of 2015, residential buildings are most prone to fire outbreaks⁵. According to the national fire protection association, India reports that more than 3000 people die in fire accidents each year and another 15,000 are injured. International Journal of Advance Research in Community Health Nursing Fire deaths in residence are roughly calculated as 85 percent of total fire accidents. The national burns information exchange reveals that 75% of all burn injuries result from the actions of the victims. The risk for acquiring the fire accidents is highest among the health care institutions⁶. So the aim of our study is to know the knowledge and the practice of the health care workers regarding the fire safety measures.     

 

AIM OF THE STUDY:

To Assess Knowledge and Practices Regarding Fire Safety among Health Care Workers.

 

OBJECTIVES:

1.     To assess knowledge regarding Fire Safety among Health Care Workers

2.     To assess Practices regarding Fire Safety among Health Care Workers

3.     To Find out Association between Sociodemographic variables and knowledge and practices regarding fire safety.

 

ASSUMPTION:

Health care workers may have knowledge regarding fire safety

 

Research design:

Non-Experimental Research design was used to achieve the aim of the study.

 

Subjects and Methods:

Research setting:

The study was conducted on health care workers from the selected hospitals of Pune city

 

Subjects:

The subjects of the study include all available health care workers at the time of the study which consisted of 100 health care workers

 

Statistical analysis:

The data were computerized and verified using the SPSS (statistical package for social science) version 16.0 to perform tabulation and statistical analysis.

 

RESULTS:

The data was analysed and presented in the following sections:

 

Section 1:

Distribution of subjects in relation to demographic data.

 

Section 2:

Assessment of knowledge and practices of the health care workers regarding fire safety

Section 3:

Analysis of data related to association of knowledge and practice score with selected demographic variables.

 

Table 1: Socio-demographic characteristics of the studied group (Experimental)

S. N.	Demographic variables		Frequency	%
1	Age in years	a. 20 to 30	52	52
		b. 31 to 40	36	36
		c. 41 to 50	11	11
		d. 51 to 60	1	1
2	Gender	a. Male	54	54
		b. Female	46	46
3	Profession	a. Nurse	51	51
		b. Doctor	19	19
		c. Class IV workers	17	17
		d. Others	13	13
4	Work experience	a. 1 to 10 years	87	87
		b. 11 to 20 years	13	13
5	Attended fire safety training	c. Yes	92	92
		d. No	8	8
6	Educational qualifications	a. Illiterate	0	0
		b. SSC	3	3
		c. HSC	19	19
		d. Graduate	64	64
		e. Post Graduate	14	14

 

The above table indicates the frequency and percentage of the demographic variables of the health care workers. Majority of samples (52%) were in 20 to 30age group. Majority of samples were male (54%), majority had nursing profession (51%). Majority of samples had work experience between 1 to 10 years. Majority of samples (92%) had attended fire safety training. Majority of samples had their educational qualification graduate (64%).

 

Table 2: The following table represents the knowledge of the study samples regarding fire safety

Sr no	Knowledge Score	Frequency	Percentage
a	Poor	23	23%
b	Average	51	51%
c	Good	26	26%

 

Fig. 1:

 

Pie diagram showing percentage wise distribution according to the level of Knowledge of the Health care workers regarding fire safety:

The above data represents the knowledge of the study samples in which the maximum number of health care workers have an average knowledge which is 51%, and 26% health care workers have a good knowledge,23% health care workers have poor knowledge

 

Table no. 3: The following table represents the Practices of the study samples regarding fire safety

Sr No	Practice Score	Frequency	Percentage
1	Poor	2	2%
2	Average	51	51%
3	Good	47	47%

 

Fig no. 2

 

Pie diagram showing percentage wise distribution according to the level of Knowledge of the Health care workers regarding fire safety:

The results reveal that majority (51%) the respondents had good practices, 47% of the respondents had moderate practices & only 2% of the respondents had poor practicesregarding fire safety 

 

Association of level of Knowledge and Practice with demographic variables:

The findings revealed that the association between the Knowledge and practices of health care workers are significant to the sociodemographic variables like age, gender, profession, educational qualification, work experience.

 

DISCUSSION:

The study was proposed to explore and describe the Knowledge and Practices of the health care workers regarding the fire safety.

 

Present study result shows that majority of samples (52%) were in 20 to 30age group. Similar study conducted by K. A. T. Kumara reveals that majority (56.0%) were samples below 40 years⁴. In this study majority of samples were male (54%). study conducted by S Rohini 39% male were included in the study⁵.

 

Present study result shows that majority of samples had nursing profession (51%). Similar study conducted by S Rohini 57(28.21%) were GNM and 34.16% staff nurse were included⁵.

 

Present study result reveals majority of samples had work experience between 1 to 10 years. Similar study conducted by S Rohini shown result that 85.15% had 1-4 years of work experience⁵.

 

Present study result shows majority of samples (92%) had attended fire safety training. Similar study conducted by Innocent Meki the study results shown that 77% were trained on fire safety⁷.

 

Present study Majority of samples had their educational qualification graduate (64%). Similar study conducted by K Shravan result shows that 65% were graduate⁸.

 

Present study result reveals the maximum number of health care workers have an average knowledge which is 51%, and 26% health care workers have a good knowledge, 23% health care workers have poor knowledge.

 

Similar study conducted by Megilin B C Regarding the level of knowledge among nurses, 36(36%) were had good knowledge, 64(64%) were had adequate knowledge and none of them had poor knowledge regarding fire accidents⁹.

 

CONCLUSION:

Based upon the study results, it is concluded that need to improve knowledge and practices of fire safety in the health care settings.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

From the forgoing conclusion, the following recommendations are suggested:

1.     Awareness to students and faculty on fire safety while operating fire safety operations.

2.     Experimental study can be done on large scale sample regarding fire safety training.

 

REFERENCES:

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Received on 06.02.2023           Modified on 05.05.2023

Accepted on 03.07.2023          © A&V Publications all right reserved