Application of Analytic Hierarchy Process to Rank Fire Safety Factors for Assessing the Fire Probabilistic Risk in School for the Blind Building: A Case Study in Thailand

Abstract

Fires are the leading cause of death, serious injury, and property damage. In the past, schools, temples, and government offices had more frequent fires than they should. Statistics showed that the number of fires between 2017 to 2022 amounted to 13,593 cases which mostly occurred in schools, temples, and government offices (40.0% of all buildings). Moreover, it causes more damage among the blind, who have limited vision. Therefore, the cross-sectional purpose of this study was to assess the fire risk in school for the blind. The fire checklists, brainstorming, and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) were applied to estimate the fire risk in the school for the blind building. The findings revealed an inherent fire hazard factor (fire probabilistic risk scores = 3.2830) and evacuation factor (fire probabilistic risk scores = 3.3178) that were acceptable risks, except the fire control factor (fire probabilistic risk scores = 1.4320) was an unacceptable risk (score of less than 2.5). The unacceptable risk may cause impacts to life, health, property, and public communities. Eventually, efforts should be made to supervise those risk factors by designing suitable activities to reduce undesirable conditions in schools for the blind.