ASSESSEMENT OF FIRE SAFETY AWARENESS AND PRACTICES IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS; A CASE STUDY OF THIKA WEST DISTRICT, KENYA

Abstract

Fire safety preparedness is an important element of any school’s strategic plan and is essential in reducing the probability and effects of school fires. The study was undertaken in Thika West District, which had 6 fire outbreaks, deaths, injuries as well as property worth millions of shillings burnt in various incidences of fire in different public secondary schools. This study assessed the level of fire safety preparedness in public secondary schools in Thika West District, based on the Ministry of Education safety regulations. It also evaluated whether schools had met the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), and the Fire Risk Reduction Rules (2007). There are 16 public secondary schools which were categorized as national, provincial and District schools. Tools for data collection included questionnaires, observation check-lists and interviews. Questionnaires focusing on fire safety preparedness as required by the guidelines of the Ministry of Education was developed and distributed to 608 respondents who included 125 teachers, 8 principals, 80 non-teaching staff and 395 students on a drop and pick later basis. An observation check-list was also developed based on the requirements of the Fire Risk Reduction Rules (2007). The data was analyzed using the descriptive and inferential statistics. The level of implementation of Fire Risk Reduction Rules (2007) was 23.7%, which meant there was a high risk of fire outbreaks in schools. The study found that some of the provisions such as fire assembly point was rating at 20%, whereas fire fighting appliances (46.2%) and fire exit (29.2%). There was a significant statistical difference between the provisions which had been implemented (X² = 45.26; df=4; P<0.05). The level of implementation was low (18.2%), since most of the safety provisions were yet to be implemented in public secondary schools. The study also established the management strategies used in public secondary schools to enhance fire safety. It found out that the national category of schools rated 28.04% whereas provincial schools (22.2%) and the District schools was at 19.4%. There was no significant statistical difference between the implementation of various management strategies and the school category (X² =0.841; P >0.05, df=3). This study recommends the Ministry of Education to make fire safety compulsory at all levels of learning as there is a serious gap in implementation of its circular by the school management. The schools should implement proper designs of the new buildings in order to enhance safety and also implement adequate fire management strategies.