The awareness of youngsters on fire safety in commercial buildings

Awareness is perceived as knowing and being conscious; being cognizant and vigilant of the surrounding. Fire safety awareness can help in preventing the spread of fire and smoke, extinguishing a fire, and increasing the likelihood of a rapid and safe departure in emergency. With the increasing of commercial building-fire cases lately, the awareness of fire safety is crucial. This research is aimed to investigate the awareness of youngsters on their comprehension of fire safety in commercial buildings. The three objectives of the research are; (1) to measure the youngsters’ level of awareness of fire safety in commercial buildings; (2) to measure the youngsters’ level of knowledge of fire safety in commercial buildings; and (3) to identify factors affecting good decision-making skill when confronted with fire-related emergency in commercial buildings. This research used quantitative method of questionnaire surveys are distributed to youngsters aged between 18 and 30 years old in commercial buildings in Pulau Pinang and Perak. The result shows that youngsters are moderately aware of fire safety in commercial buildings and school/university education, government Programme and friend’s influence are the main factors that trigger the awareness of these youngsters. The youngsters also are knowledgeable about fire safety in commercial buildings and the school/University education, social Environment/community and social media are main factors that trigger the knowledge of these youngsters. As for factors affecting good decision-making skills, the youngsters agree that leadership and communication with Training/ preparedness are the main factors that can help with their decision-making skills when dealing with fire related emergencies. New finding indicates the highest positive correlations between means of escape and fire alarm on youngsters’ level of awareness of fire safety.