Community Fire Safety Survey, NSW

   Page tools:

    NAME OF ORGANISATION
    Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

    OVERVIEW

    This survey examined household fire safety in private dwellings across NSW. Information was collected on: dwelling characteristics (structure, material of outer walls, etc.), location of dwelling in relation to bushland, insurance coverage, presence and maintenance of fire safety features (smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, fire blankets, knapsack pumps, emergency water supplies, electrical safety switches), presence of risk factors (access by children to matches, storage of combustible materials in roof space, frequency of removal of leaves from gutters).

    PURPOSE

    Data from the survey is required for the following purposes:

    • to plan and implement major fire prevention strategies so that the demands of the community are met, within the allocated budget;
    • enhance future planning for resource allocation and fire prevention programs;
    • to set benchmarks against which fire prevention performance can be appraised;
    • to identify any gaps in the community's knowledge and awareness of fire safety issues.

    The following organisations were expected to be users of the data.

    • Department of Bush Fire Services
    • Insurance Council of Australia
    • CSIRO, Division of Building, Construction and Engineering

    SCOPE
    Scope: NSW civilian population aged 15 and over (in private dwellings only).

    Coverage: Standard Labour Force Survey coverage rules. The following are exclusions on coverage for the Labour Force Survey:
    • members of the permanent defence forces;
    • certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments, customarily excluded from census and estimated populations;
    • overseas residents in Australia;
    • members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependants) stationed in Australia

    DATA DETAIL

    Conceptual framework

    Not applicable

    Main outputs

    Publication : Community Fire Safety, New South Wales (ABS Cat No. 8715.1).

    Population:

    In NSW, all households in private dwellings except those in caravans, houseboats, tents etc.

    Characteristics of interest/Data Items:

    Dwelling type

    Proximity to bushland

    Dwelling ownership

    Age of dwelling

    Material of outer walls

    Material of frame

    Pitch of roof

    Storage in roof space

    Main roof material

    Material of garage

    Emergency water supply

    Garden hose readiness

    Gutter cleaning frequency

    Storage of combustibles

    Storage of matches etc.

    Whether has smoke alarms/detectors

    Number of smoke alarms/detectors

    Areas protected by smoke alarms/detectors

    Whether smoke detector battery powered

    Low battery warning on smoke detector

    When smoke detector last tested

    Whether own a fire extinguisher

    When fire extinguisher last checked

    Whether has fire blanket

    Whether has fire sprinkler

    When fire sprinkler last checked

    Whether has knapsack pump

    When knapsack pump last checked

    Whether has gas supply

    Types of heating used

    Whether has safety switch

    Type of safety switch

    Whether building insured

    Whether contents insured

    Type of Statistics: Population totals and population proportions

    Data Breakdown: Region Sydney Statistical Division

    Balance of NSW

    Classifications

    Standard Classifications were used for variables sourced from the Labour Force Survey ie:

    Region - Formed by aggregation of standard statistical divisions. Minimum level in publication: Sydney, Balance of NSW

    Dwelling structure - Minimum level in publication: Separate house, Semi-detached/row/terrace/townhouse, Flat in 1 or 2 storey block, Flat in 3 or more storey block, other.

    Nature of occupancy - Minimum level in publication: Owned/purchasing, renting, other

    Other concepts (summary)

    Not applicable

    GEOGRAPHIC DETAIL
    New South Wales
    Major Statistical Region
    Part of State Metropolitan
    Part of State Extra-Metropolitan

    Comments and/or Other Regions

    Not applicable

    COLLECTION FREQUENCY
    Once Only

    Frequency comments

    It is not planned to run another Community Fire Safety survey.

    COLLECTION HISTORY

    10/1994 Data collected as a NSW state supplementary survey. This collection has been run once only and there are currently no plans for a repeat survey.

    DATA AVAILABILITY
    Yes

    Data availability comments

    Data is available in the publication Community Fire Safety, New South Wales (ABS Cat No. 8715.1). Customised data services are available to clients on request.


    DATE OF LAST UPDATE FOR THIS DOCUMENT
    02/02/2006 04:43 PM