Bridging the Fire Safety Awareness Training Gaps: Survey Findings from Dubai and Sharjah Emirates

Abstract

Dubai and Sharjah, twin cities of the United Arab Emirates, offer a diverse living environment, attracting residents from around the globe. Despite their cosmopolitan nature, these emirates have a concerning rate of fire incidents. To address fire-related issues, the public and private sectors provide extensive fire safety training/workshops and run awareness campaigns. The increase in fire incidents has been encouraged by the possible deficiencies in these training programs; a survey was conducted to assess the effectiveness of available training resources. Employing basic statistics and thematic analysis, we collected data from 149 participants. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of fire safety training programs provided by different organizations in Dubai and Sharjah. The proposed survey had 12 questions about fire safety training and awareness campaigns run in the Dubai and Sharjah Emirates, yielding valuable insights. The lack of adequate fire safety training among the residents of Dubai and Sharjah was revealed through thematic analysis. Conventional approaches in training, such as PowerPoint slides, brochures, and discussions, make the training passive learning. Residents wait for the opportunity to attend fire safety training, and it happens rarely. The available training often lacks contextual learning and inclusion of technological resources. Residents of Dubai and Sharjah rely on their employers or the public sector to sponsor their fire safety training. Additionally, many residents use search engines to learn about fire safety, unaware of existing awareness campaigns. Survey respondents in larger workshops frequently complained about limited individual attention, the long duration of these workshops, participants' education level, time constraints, and the language of instruction. These are the major causes of difficulties in the fire safety training. Most residents recommended incorporating mobile, augmented, and virtual reality applications to make training safe, contextually rich, engaging, and motivating. The survey results supported practical demonstrations, smartphone-enabled training, and augmented and virtual reality-based training over leaflets, PowerPoint presentations, and discussion. Age, gender, and qualification variables were used to establish relationships with the survey responses using thematic analysis to improve fire safety training and awareness campaigns. However, the question left unanswered by respondents requires further investigation to address the gaps and how technology, such as augmented and virtual reality, can transform perception of awareness campaigns by integrating contextual learning, motivation, and engagement.