Despite an average of 174 building fires every day[1], more than 9,500 fatalities or casualties from those fires in 2012-13[2], and an estimated billion pound bill for fire-related property insurance claims last year[3], it seems we are still shockingly complacent about fire safety.
New research published today[4] to coincide with the start of Fire Door Safety Week(15-21 September 2014) reveals that almost half of us (47%) have never been shown or told about the fire safety procedures where we work.
If a fire alarm was to sound, 14% of people say they would see what everyone else was doing and ‘go with the flow’ – this rises to almost 23% of workers aged 25-44. One in 10 people (11%) would go into the corridor and investigate, and one in 20 admit they would simply ignore it, assuming there must be a fault on the alarm system.
When respondents with formal responsibility for fire safety in their organisations were asked if they were fully aware of their legal obligations, almost half (46.5%) said they either did not know what they were or admitted they were unclear.
Click here for the full version of our findings.
View our video "What happens if you get it wrong"
[1] Latest Government statistics, published May 2014: Fire Statistics: Great Britain April 2012 to March 2013. Department for Communities and Local Government. 63,500 building fires in 2012-13: 41,000 fires recorded in dwellings and 22,500 in other buildings.
[2] DCLG fire statistics (see above). 266 fatalities in dwelling fires in 2012-13, plus 17 fatalities in other building fires. 8,300 casualties recorded from dwelling fires, and 1,013 in other building fires.
[3] Association of British Insurers property claims statistics: https://www.abi.org.uk/News/Industry-data-updates/2013/11/Property-claims-statistics-update-Q3-2013
[4] Survey carried out 27-29 August 2014 by Atomik Research on behalf of the BWF-CERTIFIRE Scheme. The sample consisted of two groups: a 500 individuals group responsible for fire safety in a variety of organisations, and a 500 consumers group aged 18-65 and nationally representative.