International Journal of Energy and Sustainable Development
Articles Information
International Journal of Energy and Sustainable Development, Vol.3, No.3, Sep. 2018, Pub. Date: Dec. 21, 2018
Risk of Fire Disaster: Consequences on Industry Sectors in Bangladesh
Pages: 52-63 Views: 2397 Downloads: 1258
Authors
[01] Md. Tazmul Ahosan Azad, Department of Emergency Management, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Patuakhali, Bangladesh.
[02] Irteja Hasan, Department of GIS and Earth Observation, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Patuakhali, Bangladesh.
[03] Milton Kumar Saha, Department of Disaster Risk Management, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Patuakhali, Bangladesh.
[04] Raju Ahmmed, Department of Food Engineering, Dhaka University of Engineering and Technology, Gazipur, Bangladesh.
[05] Sharmin Jahan Moni, Department of Soil and Environmental Science, University of Barishal, Barishal, Bangladesh.
[06] Md. Humayun Kabir, Department of Environmental Science and Resource Management, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Tangail, Bangladesh.
Abstract
Fire disasters have a devastating impact on both lives and properties. The purpose of this study was to explore the causes and consequences of fire disasters and find out the probable measure to reduce the effect of it. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 20 industries at Gazipur in Dhaka. Multi-stage probability proportionate to size sampling technique was applied to select the industry. A total of 200 workers were selected for data collection. A semi-structured questionnaire was applied for collecting primary information through face to face interview, focus group discussion (FGD), and key informants interview (KII). Secondary data was collected from various secondary sources. Results revealed that the majority (70.5%) of the workers was female and the mean age of them was 29 years. Besides this, most of the workers (52.2%) had formal education and average monthly income of them was 13329 Tk. only. The study also discovered that the electric short circuit (28.5%) and boiler explosions (26%) were the major cause of fire disaster. During the fire outbreak the lack of emergency exit route (83.6%), lack of signage (79.7%), inadequate staircases (82.8%), suffocation (77.3%), and the shortage of emergency light (63.3%) was significantly increased the human causality. Results indicated that 91% of the industry had no fire control system, about 70% of the industry had no emergency exit route, 75% of the industry had no underwater reservoir, and only 5% of the industry had enough level of fire extinguishers. More than 90% of the industry has no fire control training system, only 5% of the workers had got first aid training, more than 50% of the workers had no knowledge how to get rid of fire disaster. After the fire disasters, about 90% of the affected personnel felt inhalation problem, 91% of international trade order was canceled and unemployment problem had increased considerably. Therefore, institutional reform, strengthening of capacity at the individual and institutional level is needed in order to reduce fire hazard risks in the industry.
Keywords
Disaster, Fire, Industry, Risk, Bangladesh
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