TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2002//
TI  - Prevention of deaths and injuries caused by house fires: survey of local authority smoke alarm policies
JO  - Journal of public health medicine
A1  - Rowland, Diane
A1  - Afolabi, Ebenezer
A1  - Roberts, I.
SP  - 217
EP  - 218
VL  - 24
IS  - 3
N2  - 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.
LA  - 
SN  - 0957-4832
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -