Examine the Effect of Fire Safety Management Strategies on the Survival of Commercial Buildings in Nigeria
Chapter One
STUDY OBJECTIVES
The main goal of this study was to determine the managing fire outbreak in commercial building in administrative block.
Specific objectives include;
- To assess fire containment measures adopted by owners of administrative block in Port Harcourt.
- To assess level of fire preparedness among the occupants of the administrative block in Port Harcourt.
- To assess the level of fire preparedness of local authority in Port Harcourt.
- To assess the level of perception of satisfaction of building owners, occupants and the local authorities on fire containment measures in Port Harcourt.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Hazard
Globally, all types of hazard are experienced on a day to day basis in urban areas. These are mainly health and fire related due to the poor standards of living generated by congested and mostly temporally building structures in low income settlements. Fire disasters can lead to deaths and damage to property and course devastating effects to the environment. Specialists tend to be concerned with mainly the big fire disasters which are basically only one end of the spectrum. Very little attention has been given to the medium or to the smaller scale fire disasters that lie in the middle and the end of the spectrum (Bull-Kamanga et al., 2003). Effectively very many small but serious fire disasters go unreported and subsequently unnoticed and therefore are not documented. According to the Global Policy on Urban Disasters (2010) it is possible to avoid future disasters in urban areas if all the agencies involved in fire disaster management can jointly deal with the issues that create disaster vulnerable environmental. This is more so in the low-income countries where special emphasis should be directed towards prevention, response, rescuer and, recovery.
The African continent has not been spared from fire and others disasters which are mostly related to rapid urbanization. Tibaijuka, (2007) describes urbanization in Africa as growing exponentially. Tibaijuka continued to observe that according to the World Bank Group 2013 report, the number of disasters reported in Africa has increased significantly since the 1970s and their economic impact on countries is becoming more and more clear. Tibaijuka further observed that most African countries have minimal economic capacity to finance relief and the necessary reconstruction that is needed to deal with the aftermath of a disaster. The capacities of many national and local disaster prevention and response authorities remain limited. As noted by Holloway (2013) because of the high rate of urbanization in the African Continent today, the cities are experiencing rapidly growing unplanned informal settlements that have poor infrastructures. This leads to frequent fires whose courses and eventual management is poorly handled leading to devastating effects. Shannon (2013) observes that many African countries do not have in place a fire disaster management strategy to assist in preventing and responding to these disasters. Shannon continues to observe that this aspect is mostly manifested in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In Nigeria, the Government and other building owners, including the general public have tried but not managed fire disasters adequately. The researcher therefore, set out to examine how the fire disaster management agencies within the Port Harcourt City have been carrying out this noble but difficult task relative to the existing policy and institutional frameworks and how effective it has been.
Over the years, the world has experienced fires disaster some of them resulting to great losses both in lives lost and properties destroyed. Some of them mentioned in this research are barely representative and therefore not exhaustive. The Great Boston fire of 1760 was a major fire that occurred on March 20, 1760. While it is not clear what started the fire, it is suspected that some gun powder was ignited by the blaze, causing a huge explosion that resulted to the spread of fire. The fire destroyed 349 buildings as well several ships in port, and left over a thousand people homeless (Brayley, Arthur Wellington 1889). The Great Fire of London started on Pudding Lane of September 2nd, 1666 is destroying close to 70,000 homes in London and affecting roughly 80,000 residents. Although by then, London had some advanced firefighting technology fire services had to use water to control the fire due to the fact that the roads were too narrow for the fire engines. Furthermore, only a few fire engines were on wheels (Bell, Walter G.1971). (Ellis Peter Berresford (1986). Another account by E. Merton Coulter (1939) indicates that in 1796, Savannah, an American city was struck by a Great Fire considered one of the most shocking fires ever to have struck America at that time. He further observes that Savannah’s council had implemented several procedures geared towards minimizing the risk of fire by putting a number of strategies in place to allow for a swift response to any developing fire. However, the city had a very small and poorly equipped fire service which had very few fire engines. These were a hand pulled by volunteer and were also in bad condition. Closer home in Nigeria, a blaze at Kimathi House in the centre of Port Harcourt almost wiped out at least two floors since as firefighters arrived poorly equipped to fight the blaze Kaberia (2015).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
The intention of this research was to critically assess the state of fire disaster management in urban areas with special reference to Port Harcourt City by examining how policy framework, building owner relationship, technological capacity and the level of building owners’ awareness singly and jointly influence Fire Disaster Management in Port Harcourt City. To achieve this, the researcher used the correlation research design. Correlation research Design is the measure of two factors to determine or estimate the extent to which the value of the two factors are related or change. Correlation establishes the extent to which the change in value of one factor may predict the change in the value of the other. (Gregory J. Privitera 2016).
Sampling procedure
The study adopted Purposeful sampling procedure. This sampling procedure was especially important given that the numbers of institutions within Port Harcourt that are engaged in fire disaster management are not very many and can therefore all be studied. Furthermore, these institutions have been dealing with fire disaster management for a long time and therefore have a wealth of experience in the subject under study. As indicated by Patton (2002), purposeful sampling is a method generally used in qualitative research for the proof of identity and selection of cases rich in the relevant information for the most current use of limited resources. Cresswell & Plano Clark (2011) further observes that this procedure involves categorizing and selecting persons or groups of persons that are particularly well- informed about or experienced with a phenomenon of interest. The main target respondents were managers and section heads in-charge of fire disaster management in private and public corporations within Port Harcourt city.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Demographic data of the respondents
The subjects of this study included managers and heads of sections dealing with fire disaster management in their respective organizations. Several items such as gender, education level, designation, years of service in the respective designation, number of staff working under the respondent and the number of institutions that the respondent’s organizations directly corroborates with on fire management were used to provide further information on the subject’s background.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter presents the summary of the study findings as well as the deductions of the study. It also covers recommendations of the research and suggestions for further study.
Summary of Major Findings
The study sought to assess the extent to which policy framework, building owners’ relationship, level of building owner awareness and Building owners’ Technological Capacity influences the way fire disasters are managed within the Port Harcourt City. The objectives were to examine the effectiveness of policy framework, and the building owner’s relationship affects the management of fire disasters in Port Harcourt City. This study further intended to establish, the extent to which the level of building owner awareness and the efficiency of building owner technological capacity had a bearing towards disaster management in Port Harcourt City with special reference to fire disasters. According to the study findings, all the institutions represented by the respondents collaborated with other institutions directly on matters of fire disaster management. As Regards to policy framework, the study established that most institutions had a fire policy framework mainly covering aspects of internal organization; mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery, rescue, communication flow and logistics as some of the policies used to guide fire disaster Management. Regarding the Building owners relationship, study established that the respondents were aware of the existence of a direct relationship between their organization and others involved in fire disaster management. However, the study indicated that infrastructure and building owner’s coordination, are the weakest point of fire disaster management in Port Harcourt City.
Conclusions
The correlation analysis revealed that policy framework, building owner awareness and building owner technological capacity all indicated weak positive correlation with fire disaster management, building owner relationship however showed a strong positive correlation with fire disaster management at 64.3%. According to the study only 41.3% of the changes in fire disaster management are accounted for by policy framework, building owner relationship, building owner awareness and building owner technological capacity. Of all the variables studied, building owner relationship is the most statistically significant to management of fire disasters in Port Harcourt. Other factors were not statistically significant despite the fact that they influence fire disaster management.
Recommendations to policy makers.
Based on the study, the researcher came up with various recommendations that could help improve on the fire disaster management within the study area. On policy framework the study recommends that the Port Harcourt City Government appoints a taskforce as a matter of urgency which shall come up with a framework on fire management. This should be a comprehensive document combining all the Policy frameworks on fire management that exist in the country but nonetheless customized to serve the specific purpose of the County.
Reference should be made to the Factories and Other Places of Work Act (Cap. 514) (Fire Risk Reduction) Rules 2007, Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 2010, and The Nigeria Fire Safety Manual 2009. Further reference should be made to all those policies that are in draft stage which includes the Draft Fire Policy 2009 and proposed National Policy for Disaster Management in Nigeria 2010. This shall then be adopted by the County Assembly as the County policy framework for the Port Harcourt City. It is also recommended that the Port Harcourt City Fire and Rescue Services Bill, 2015 be enacted to law to guide fire disaster management. The bill is set to make provision of Fire and Rescue Services Authority (FRSA) whose main purposes shall include shall: advancement of all aspects of fire protection by adoption of a collaborative multidisciplinary and multi sectoral all approach. The authority shall also be expected to encourage community volunteer services and establish a fire disaster management arrangement with both institutional and legal frameworks within the Port Harcourt City.
On building owner’s relationship the study recommends that the Port Harcourt City Government adopts an integrated approach to collaboration and coordination of all the Management of fire disasters by the building owners involved within the in the study area. All the government agencies and Ministries both at the County and National branches, private agencies, NGOs, and the general public should be involved in this process. Formation of a coordinating, well-funded agency shall ensure continued collaboration and continuous information flow to ensure swift action in the event of a fire disaster. The agency should be mandated to disseminate information and offer training to private institutions as well as the public on fire disaster management. This shall create very strong structures of building owner’s involvement.
As concerns building owner technological capacities, the study recommends that both the private and public institutions involved in fire disaster management adopt updated technology. While it is appreciated that most private institutions involved in this field within the county have high-tech firefighting equipment, the Port Harcourt City Government need to enhance its fleet of firefighting machines and other equipment keeping in mind that it should be the leading agency in firefighting within the county. These should be accompanied by training of the members of staff that is expected to operate this equipment.
Suggestions for Further Study
The current study only covered Port Harcourt City. The study thus suggests that more research be carried out to assess the aspects of fire disaster management in other counties. Further, the study confined itself to the Agencies involved in fire disaster management only, thus looking at the “bigger picture”. However, the researcher appreciates that the triggers of these disasters are in homes and work places. Arson is another factor that courses fire disasters. While the latter may be very difficult to deal with since it is deliberate and unpredictable, civic education on the residents in general and training of workers are areas that can be further explored. This should include advice on what firefighting equipment should be available for controlling fires and how to operate them. The study recommends that further study be done on how more awareness campaigns through public fire drills, billboards adverts, seminars and public ‘Barazas’ can be enhanced to bring all building owners at all levels to speed on the how to manage fire disasters in Port Harcourt and other urban set-ups. The researcher therefore suggests that further research on the area of fire disaster prevention be carried out since it can assist in stopping or reducing the effects of these disasters on the onset.
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