@article{ref1,
title="Prevention of deaths and injuries caused by house fires: survey of local authority smoke alarm policies",
journal="Journal of public health medicine",
year="2002",
author="Rowland, Diane and Afolabi, Ebenezer and Roberts, I.",
volume="24",
number="3",
pages="217-218",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Despite an increased risk of fire in disadvantaged households, smoke alarm ownership is considerably lower than in the general population. The government currently recommends that local authorities install battery-operated smoke alarms in all public sector properties regardless of tenure. However, the extent to which local authorities comply is currently not known. We conducted a survey of local authorities to establish the extent of their smoke alarm provision to public sector households. METHODS: A telephone survey of all 405 local authorities within England and Wales was carried out. RESULTS: We obtained responses from 390 (97 per cent) local authorities, 266 of which had responsibility for housing. Over half of all public-sector households are offered smoke alarms by the local authorities. The majority of local authorities offer ionization and/or optical sensor alarm types (78 per cent), with many local authorities providing battery-operated alarms alone (17 per cent) or in combination with hardwired alarms (31 per cent). CONCLUSIONS: Many local authorities offer smoke alarm provision to their public-sector households. Whether this represents an effective and cost-effective use of resources requires further investigation.",
language="",
issn="0957-4832",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}