A Study of Fire Safety within Kariobangi Light Industries

Abstract

Kariobangi Light Industries is an industrial cluster characterized by high population densities, poor infrastructure and, numerous concrete buildings. The buildings house semi-organized, unregulated and small scale enterprises in industrial units on the ground floor and low-income inhabited dwellings on the floors above. These conditions and uncharacteristic aspects make Kariobangi Light Industries of special interest with regard to fire safety due to the magnitude of destruction and loss that would result from an immense fire. The main objective of this research was to study fire safety within Kariobangi Light Industries within Nairobi County, Kenya with the Occupational Safety and Health Act, 2007 and its subsidiary legislation the Factories and Other Places of Work (Fire Risk Reduction) Rules, 2007 as a standard on the fire safety requirements at all workplaces in Kenya. Specifically, the research aimed at identifying and profiling potential fire ignition and fuel sources within the industrial cluster, evaluation of measures executed by the business community to control fire hazards as well as assessing fire safety awareness among the business community operating within the industrial cluster. A descriptive survey research design was employed to describe the condition of fire safety within the industrial cluster as it subsists. The target population was all industries operating in Kariobangi Light Industries. Purposive sampling was employed thus thirty industries sampled which constituted 100% of the licensed industries within Kariobangi Light Industries during the year 2014. Interviewees in the research consisted of the business owners or their appointed representatives. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 was employed in computing of inferential statistics while qualitative data were summarized into notes for each of the specific objectives. The findings of the study showed that there is a significant positive correlation between fire safety awareness among the business community and their implementation of measures to control fire hazards (P value < 0.05. r (27) = .597**, p = .001). The linear regression analysis established that fire safety awareness of the business community (p = 0.001) greatly influences their implementation of fire safety. The study concludes that increased fire safety awareness among the business community is vital and hence recommends that the Nairobi Fire Services and (or) the Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health Services should implement fire safety awareness programs to benefit the business community operating within the industrial cluster.