- Author
-
Buchanan, N.
- Title
- Smoke Alarm Ownership in Relation to Socio-Economic Factors.
- Coporate
- University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
- Report
-
Fire Engineering Research Report 01/11,
December 2001,
31 p.
- Distribution
- For more information contact: School of Engineering, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand. Telephone: 643-364-2250, Fax: 643-364-2758, Website: http://www.civil.canterbury.ac.nz
- Keywords
-
smoke detectors
|
social learning theory
|
literature review
|
methodology
|
fire statistics
|
smoking
|
heating
|
escape means
|
false alarms
- Abstract
- This study focuses on smoke alarm ownership within Christchurch. Two different areas were selected, based on income levels. These two areas, Holmwood and Avon Loop, were then compared to determine if socio-economic factors impact on smoke alarm ownership. This study focused primarily on the relationships between smoke alarm ownership and location, income, education, and home ownership. Other topics discussed include the number of alarms per household, escape plans, people who smoke in the household, heating methods, reasons for non-purchase and other specific relationships that were uncovered during the study. The results between the two areas are significant for various reasons explained in this study. The hypothesis of this study was that there would be a higher rate of smoke alarm ownership in a higher socio-economic area. The aim of this study was to find out if socio-economic conditions such as location, income, education, home ownership (rent or own), ethnicity, and gender affected the distribution of smoke alarms. The aim was to compare two different areas of Christchurch with each other, one a low-income area and the other a high-income area, and observe if there were similarities or differences.