The Role Of Security Personnel In Fire Disaster Preparedness: Challenges Of Protection Against Fire Disaster In The University Of Nairobi

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish the challenges faced by University of Nairobi security personnel in their role of fire disaster preparedness. The objectives of this study was to ascertain the extent to which security personnel in the University of Nairobi are knowledgeable on fire preparedness, to examine the forms of training on fire disaster preparedness that security personnel have been given, to establish the adequacy of firefighting equipment at the University of Nairobi and to Identify logistical administrative and other constraints to an improved to an improved capacity of security personnel to implement an adequate fire disaster set up in the University of Nairobi. The study purposeful sampled Main campus, Student Welfare Authority, Chiromo campus and Kikuyu campus because each campus has its own unique characteristics that can be generalized to apply to the rest. Simple random sampling was used to obtain a population of 76 respondents. Primary data was collected through questionnaires and key informant interviews. Quantitative data was collected through structured questionnaires while qualitative data was collected through interviews with key informants and unstructured observations. Quantitative data was analyzed by using frequency tables and percentages while qualitative data was analyzed by reduction, data display and conclusion drawing. The study shows that security department is composed of educated human resource with a minimum of secondary education and majority of employees in the department are male. Findings show that University of Nairobi has got some fire disaster preparedness in place such as existence of well-marked fire assembly points, fire emergency alarms and emergency communication systems. In case of fire disaster evacuation may be hampered by locked emergency exit doors which are permanently under key and lock for security reasons. Findings show that Security personnel are faced with several constraints and challenges that impact on their preparedness capacity negatively; among the challenges are lack of trained fire marshals, vandalized firefighting equipment in the halls of residence and lack of community awareness and participation.