A Comprehensive Investigation on the Fire Hazards and Environmental Risks in a Commercial Complex Based on Fault Tree Analysis and the Analytic Hierarchy Process

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health 2020-10, Vol.17 (19), p.7347
• Main Authors: Wang, Yongyu, Ni, Xiaoyang, Wang, Jie, Hu, Ziyi, Lu, Kaihua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accidents; Analytic Hierarchy Process; Boolean; Buildings; Environmental hazards; Environmental risk; Fire damage; Fire hazards; Fire protection; Fire safety; Fires; Flammability; Humans; Qualitative analysis; Restaurants; Retail stores; Risk assessment; Risk factors; Safety Management; Shopping
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17197347

This paper focuses on the fire risk assessment for commercial complex, as the variety of fire accidental triggers inside could be a big threat to the public fire safety, leading to catastrophic loss in human lives and properties. Both the qualitative and quantitative analysis were imposed on a typical large commercial complex to recognize the potential fire-causative factors in this paper. Applying the fault tree analysis, the basic events leading to fire are acquired, and they are then further reclassified based on the analytic hierarchy process. Taking the damage of the accident as the target layer and the fire-causative factors, the equipment operation factors and firefighting factors as the criterion layer, the assessment index is well established. The risk of each factor is quantitatively evaluated, and the effect of each factor on the target layer is analyzed. The result of the fault tree analysis and analytic hierarchy process shows good consistency, in which human behavior is the main factor leading to the fire occurrence, followed by the combustible material, the rescue speed and the staff assignment factors. The results are beneficial for general decisions and measures in public fire safety management.