Prevention of deaths and injuries caused by house fires: survey of local authority smoke alarm policies.
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.
Rowland
Diane
D
Public Health Intervention Research Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 49-51 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP.
Afolabi
Elizabeth
E
Roberts
Ian
I
D003625:Data Collection; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005390:Fires / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D011638:Public Housing / Q000592:standards*; D012449:Safety; D015208:Smoke Inhalation Injury / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control*; D035862:Vulnerable Populations; D014852:Wales / Q000453:epidemiology