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greenstreet berman Michael S. Wright [email protected] 21st April 2009 Understanding peoples’ attitudes towards fire risk Fulcrum House 5 Southern Ct, South St Reading RG1 4QS 0118 938 7700 10 Fitzroy Square London W1T 5HP 020 7874 1570 1 greenstreet berman Who is at risk? • 47% of fatal fires involved substance misuse; • 49% careless use of cigarettes; • 74% were single adults; • Mental or physical impairment; • Often in contact with care or social services; • Person usually intimate with the fire & in room of fire origin; • Men. *Human Behaviour in fatal fires. Report for CLG. 2006 greenstreet berman Who is at risk? Deprivation, ill health, lone parents & fire Rate pmp of Dwelling Fires by Rate pmp of People of Ill Health for Unitary and Local Authorities (2002-2004) Rate pmp of Dwelling Fires by Deprivation (IMD score) for Unitary and Local Authroities (2002-2004) 3500 Rate of dwelling fires pmp Line of best fit 3000 Correlation = 0.61 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 Line of best fit 3000 Correlation = 0.77 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 0 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0 10 20 30 Rate of people of Ill health pm p IMD score Rate pmp of Dwelling Fires by Rate pmp of Lone Parents with Child (ren) for Unitary and Local Authorities (2002-2004) 3500 Line of best fit Rate of dwelling fires pmp Rate of dwelling fires pmp 3500 3000 Correlation = 0.77 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 Rate of lone parents pm p *Socio-demographic factors and FRS performance. Report for CLG. 2006 0.06 40 50 60 greenstreet berman Previous reviews • Few people considered the risk from fire in their homes to be high; Even if perceive a risk people disable alarms due to factors such as false alarms; Perception of risk does not associate strongly with precautionary behaviour; For example, cigarette smokers perceive themselves to be at higher risk, but have a lower ownership of fire prevention aids. greenstreet berman Aims of the work • Understanding attitudes to fire; • Identify ways of changing attitudes and behaviours; • Explore the role of FRS Community Advocates. greenstreet berman Psychological literature The way we think - cognition • ‘Heuristics’ – ‘Rules of thumb’ to help make judgments. – Availability heuristic: • Events easily brought to mind are judged to be more likely. – Affective heuristic; • Reject or accept message because of ‘emotions’ it raises. • Cognitive dissonance; – Mental discomfort from holding conflicting thoughts. – People develop beliefs to reduce the psychological discomfort of behaving illogically. – Smokers may focus on examples of people who live to the age of 80 despite smoking. greenstreet berman Psychological literature What we belief and how we feel • Health psychology – Individual weighs expected benefits (social, physical, etc) of an action, against the perceived risk and the negative consequences of the options. • Experiential learning – If people expect an activity to be beneficial, they will tend to engage in it. – If they expect the activity to be damaging, they may avoid it. – It hasn’t happen before… – Maybe self reinforcing – avoid “risky” situations. • Social norms – May encourage unhealthy behaviour (e.g. binge drinking) or discourage it (e.g. drink driving). greenstreet berman Risk communication • The extent to which the ‘message’ is accepted is influenced by whether the audience trust & identify with the messenger; • Language - what do people “hear you say”. – A conservative risk estimate. • Messages need to: – Empower’ people, – Provide practical advice that is proportionate to the risk, – Raise awareness of risk hazards; – Without creating a sense of ‘fatalism’. • Message needs to be based on an understanding of how the message may be received. greenstreet berman 13 focus groups • Elderly: – Living independently – In sheltered accommodation • Single middle aged men x 3 groups • Lone parents • Alcoholic men x 2 groups • Low income parents • Disabled – visually impaired x2 Also • BME – Somali adults (mostly parents) • BME – Somali young persons greenstreet berman Factors that influence risk perceptions Person specific • Individual vulnerability • Level of personal control over the risk • Perceived probability Common factors • Predictability • Consequences – loss of life • Media coverage greenstreet berman Are you more at risk than others? Yes • Somali parents: – Due to children • Single men & alcoholics: – Smoking, drinking • Elderly independent living: – Vulnerable No • Single mothers: – Careful because of children • Young Somali: – Do not smoke, can escape; • Visually impaired: – More careful due to their disability • Elderly in sheltered accommodation: – They are cared for greenstreet berman Perception of fire risk • Varies according to their subjective assessment of: – Vulnerability – Level of care and protection – Potential fatal consequences – Affective features (level of control, predictability of risk) • Varies according to: – Life style/stage – Household type – Individual attitudes – First vs second generation immigrants • People with impairments – physical/substance misuse – Aware they are at greater risk – However they take extra precautions and coping strategies to cope with the risk – therefore they are not at greater risk than others greenstreet berman Awareness of fire risk & precautions • Generally aware of fire risks, precautions and how to respond; • Some are concerned; • All are receptive to advice; • They are reminded of fire if they know someone has had one, TV advert or it’s in the news. But: • Fire risk – at back of people’s mind; • It won’t happen to me; • Rarely proactively seek out advice; • Could escape if fire occurred; • Already take some precautions. greenstreet berman Encouraging behaviour change • National & local fire safety media work was perceived to be effective – Need for these to be continued nationally & locally • Promotional work is most effective when: – Associated image can be identified by the audience, e.g: • Everyday people similar to the target audience • Victims of fire – Addresses issues that are perceived to be specific to audience: • Mothers cooking • Fire in the family home • Elderly person trapped in flat • Drunk person coming in after being at the pub and cooking greenstreet berman Encouraging behaviour change • Imagery: – Should be graphical and ‘shocking’ to get attention – Need to convey sense of fire visually & auditory. • Educational – causes and how to respond to different types of fires, e.g: – Explaining bedtime routines – Reminding people to change detector batteries • Empowering: – Show people how they can practically prevent & respond to fires – Flash back story lines: • What would have happened if person had taken advice; – Second chance story line • Man wakes up from a dream of a fire – show what could have done. greenstreet berman Encouraging behaviour change • Locations of messages reflected type of person: – Radio – visually impaired and some elderly – Children’s TV for single mothers – Sky Sports for single men • People are influenced by friends and family – Adverts to encourage friends and family to encourage peers to adopt fire precautions – Fire safety talks – that encourage people to advise and support their friends and family to adopt fire safety precautions – Work with/via community groups. greenstreet berman Structured approach to fire safety • Segmenting people into discrete groups • Understanding people’s level of knowledge of fire precautions/ attitudes to fire safety /advice • Identifying particular fire safety issues and attitudes to be addressed for that group; • Identify channels via which to communicate with people; • Developing communications materials that match individuals’ needs, such as auditory materials for visually impaired; • Using messengers and images that the specific audience identify with; • Evaluating the effectiveness of the strategy; • Repeating fire safety promotional work on sufficient frequency to maintain awareness. greenstreet berman Conclusion • Current attitudinal barriers: – It won’t happen to me; – Thinking you do enough already; – Not accepting the message applies to you. • Need a sustained mix of: – – – – General awareness raising; Show how people can “do more”; Tailored & targeted messages; Empowering messages as well as communicating the risk of fire. • National & local CFS via adverts, PR, Hot strikes, HFRCs, advocates etc • Proviso – Do not disengage low risk groups but saying fire risk is an issue only for vulnerable people