Owning and testing smoke alarms: findings from a qualitative study

Clark, AJ; Smith, J

Abstract

Reducing injury and death in house fires is an important public health intervention activity with the presence of an operating smoke alarm widely considered an important way of reducing harm from fire. Yet despite a number of initiatives and fire-safety campaigns, a number of households at greater risk of domestic fire fail to have a functioning alarm. This paper provides empirical insight into everyday experiences of owning, maintaining and testing smoke alarms among a purposive sample of individuals identified as being less likely to own a functioning smoke alarm. Analysis from focus group data identifies a number of reasons why individuals may not own or test an alarm, and provides new insight into how fire risk is understood in the context of a range of competing, and potentially more prominent, individual and household risks. We suggest that while initiatives that aim to reduce fire injury and death should be continued, their success, and indeed future research on fire risk, should pay attention to the mundane and everyday contexts within which individuals currently rarely reflect on their risk of experiencing a domestic fire.

Citation

Clark, A., & Smith, J. (2018). Owning and testing smoke alarms: findings from a qualitative study. Journal of Risk Research, 21(6), 748-762. https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2016.1240707

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 19, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Oct 14, 2016
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Feb 1, 2017
• Journal: Journal of Risk Research
• Print ISSN: 1366-9877
• Electronic ISSN: 1466-4461
• Publisher: Routledge
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 748-762
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2016.1240707
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13669877.2016.1240707