Safety concept of fire related injuries in inhabitants of residential buildings in Iran: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Fire is one of the major dangers that cause many casualty, injuries and property damages every year worldwide. Most of these losses occur in low- and middle-income countries. Exploring the stakeholders experience is a great source for understanding factors affecting the prevention of fires and its related injuries. The purpose of this study then is understanding the perception of safety from fire related injuries in residential inhabitants of buildings in Iran. METHODS: This study was conducted using conventional content analysis during December 2016 to December 2017. In total, 25 interviewees were selected through purposive sampling among experienced/or knowledgeable participants. Data was collected employing semi-structured interviews. The data analysis process was based on the Lundman & Graneheim method and their recommendations. FINDINGS: The six categories including: safe building against fire, fire safety regulations, safety-friendly people, effective relief organizations, safe urban structure and economic and financial capacity was extracted. CONCLUSION: Fire safety in residential buildings with the demanding people for safety is ensured that having such city requires multidisciplinary function with a holistic approach. Further investigation to explore the process of fire safety for residential buildings is recommended.

Earthquake preparedness of households and its predictors based on health belief model.

BACKGROUND: Earthquakes are one of the most destructive natural disasters in which many people are injured, disabled, or died. Iran has only 1 % of the world's population, but the percentage of its earthquake-related deaths is absolutely higher. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the level of earthquake preparedness of households and its predictors using the Health Belief Model (HBM). METHODS: This observational descriptive and analytical study was conducted on 933 households in Hamadan province, located in the west of Iran, in 2019. Multi-stage cluster random sampling was used for selecting the participants. The inclusion criteria were being at least 18 years old and being able to answer the questions. A questionnaire was used for data collection including earthquake preparedness, awareness of earthquake response, predictors of earthquake preparedness based on the HBM, and demographic information. Analysis of variance, independent t-test, and a linear regression model was used. RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 38.24 ± 12.85 years. The average score of earthquake preparedness was low (approximately 30%). There was a significant relationship between earthquake preparedness and gender (P < 0.001), homeownership (P < 0.001), marriage status (P < 0.001), education (P < 0.001), and previous earthquake experience (P < 0.001). Regarding the HBM constructs, perceived benefits (P < 0.001), cues to action (P < 0.001), and self-efficacy (P < 0.001) were significant predictors of earthquake preparedness. CONCLUSIONS: Earthquake preparedness was insufficient. Besides, perceived benefits, cues to action, and self-efficacy were predictors of earthquake preparedness. These predictors can be taken into account, for designing and implementing related future interventions.

Exploring barriers and challenges in protecting residential fire-related injuries: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Building fires can be a great threat to the safety of residents, and can lead to economic and social damage. Exploring the views of stakeholders is a great source for understanding the factors that affect fires. The purpose of this study was to explore stakeholders' experiences of unintentional fire-related injuries in residential buildings in Iran. METHODS: This qualitative study was carried out using grounded theory. The study was conducted in Iran, in 2017. The study participants consisted of 25 people including stakeholders who had practical experience/or were knowledgeable in the field of preventing and fighting building fires. Purposeful and theoretical sampling were used for data collection. Data were analyzed based on constant comparative analysis and according to recommendations by Strauss and Corbin. RESULTS: "Lack of a comprehensive approach to prevention of fire-related injury" emerged as a core variable which impacted on residents' safety against fires. The findings were classified into four groups of challenges related to the structure of building, socio-economic challenge, residents of the building and rescue services. CONCLUSIONS: Based on participants` experiences, unintentional fire-related injuries in residential buildings are affected by cultural context and economic, social and geographical factors. Improving the safety against unintentional fire-related injuries in residential buildings requires multidisciplinary operations including both change and improvement of the building construction and change in the beliefs and practices of residents to increase safety against fires.

Preventive measures for fire-related injuries and their risk factors in residential buildings: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Every year, a large number of people lose their lives or become injured seriously as a result of fires. Fires in buildings pose a great threat to resident safety. The aim of this systematic review is to identify preventive measures for fire-related injuries in residential buildings, taking into account associated risk factors. METHODS: In this study, a systematic review was performed of all studies conducted in the field of residential building fires, influencing factors and available safety procedures. From the earliest record up to 7 July 2017, databases of PubMed, Web of Science/Knowledge, and Scopus were searched and selected articles included in the study. RESULTS: A total of 5,613 published articles were examined, of which 30 were finally found to meet the inclusion criteria. The findings of the study were included in two main groups of preventive measures and risk factors for residential building fires and related injuries. Regarding preventive measures, the factors to reduce the risk of fire-related injuries raised in the studies under review included rule amendments, changes and modification of the environment, behavior change such as emergency evacuation during fire occurrence, improvements to emergency medical services, and awareness-raising. Also, many of the studies showed that areas with a large number of young children, older people, people with physical and mental disabilities, alcohol and drug addicts, smokers, single-family households and low-income families were particularly at risk of fire-related injuries and deaths. CONCLUSIONS: There are features in residential buildings and attributes among residents that can be related to fire hazard and fire-related injuries and deaths. The most important point of this study is to focus on preventive strategies including environmental modification, promotion of safety rules and changes in risk behavior among residents. Policy makers should pay more attention to these important issues in order to promote safety and injury prevention in relation to building fires.

Unintentional injuries in the rural population of Twiserkan, Iran: a cross-sectional study on their incidence, characteristics and preventability.

BACKGROUND: Knowledge is sparse concerning injuries affecting rural populations in low and middle-income countries in general and in Iran in particular. This study documents the incidence and characteristics of severe injuries affecting rural people in the Iranian district of Twiserkan and it investigates these people's suggestions for injury prevention and control. METHODS: An interview-based investigation was undertaken that comprised all unintentional injuries leading to hospitalization (more than 6 hours) or death that had occurred within a twelve month period and that were identified in the files of the 62 "health houses" of the Twiserkan district. For each case, semi-structured interviews were conducted at the households of the injured people (134 injuries affecting 117 households were identified). RESULTS: The incidence rates of fatal and non-fatal injuries were respectively 4.1 and 17.2 per 10 000 person-years and, as expected, men were more affected than women (77.6% of all injury cases). Traffic injuries (in particular among motorcyclists) were as common as home-related injuries but they were far more fatal. Among common suggestions for prevention, people mentioned that the authorities could work on the design and engineering of the infrastructure in and around the village, that the rural health workers could contribute more with local information and education and that the people themselves could consider behaving in a safer manner. CONCLUSION: Not only domestic injuries but also those in traffic are an important cause of severe and fatal injury among rural people. Health workers may play an important role in injury surveillance and in identifying context-relevant means of prevention that they or other actors may then implement.