Structural Equation Modelling For Improving Fire Safety Reliability through Enhancing Fire Safety Management on High-Rise Building

The growth of high-rise buildings is triggered by expensive land prices and the need for construction for hotels, offices, and colleges. Besides the great benefits, high-rise building also has a consequence of fire risks. This indicates that its extinction is challenging with the occurrence of fire outbreaks, due to the flammable furniture and characteristics of high-rise buildings. To anticipate this condition, fire safety protection in high-rise buildings should be reliable. Furthermore, the Indonesian government has reportedly issued regulations and technical guidelines regarding the reliability of fire safety, although fires still occur and cause loss of life and property. Science and engineering also provide a performance-based alternative approach. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the reliability of the fire safety model produced from the integration of FSM (Fire Safety Management) variables, namely flame prevention, people safety, monitoring, audit, review and reactive assessment. In a high-rise building, the initial model was validated by experts within the fire safety field. At the initial stage, the identification of FSM implementation was carried out for building functions in Jakarta, where construction surveys were conducted using a questionnaire and checklist for the completeness of the protection system. Using a spreadsheet and the Smart PLS application, the data were also processed to produce the implementation of FSM and test the effect of independent variables on the dependent factors, respectively. Subsequently, the sub-variables with low FSM implementation were used to improve the fire safety conditions in buildings. By implementing all FSM variables, reliability was then achieved, as improvement efforts were prioritized on the sub-variables with low implementation and priority on fire prevention and monitoring, audit, and review. The integration of the FSM variables' implementation also consistently produced fire safety reliability, as well as guaranteed life and property protection.

Fire safety management; Fire Safety Reliability; High-rise building; Life and Property Safety

    Fire is a serious threat significantly threatening life, infrastructures, properties, and the environment in developing countries (Kodur et al., 2018). This is confirmed by the provincial government of Jakarta, which recorded more than 500 fire accidents annually in the past five years, causing multiple fatalities and injuries. For example, the fire caused 46/25 deaths and 118/>150 injuries in 2017 and 2018, respectively (Rahardjo, 2020).  It also causes direct economic losses fivefold due to earthquakes, with only one level below drought and flood. In mid-2019, the economic losses due to the fire within Jakarta are estimated at 137.8 billion rupiah (Zhi-Xiang, 2011). This indicates that high-rise building needs to implement a fire safety management (FSM) system, due to multipurpose usages and intensive access of non-specific persons and low environmental sensitivity. These are to effectively guide individuals in abiding with appropriate fire evacuation procedures, towards the guarantee of personal safety (Chen et al., 2012). FSM is also one of the efforts to help manage fire risk from design, construction, and monitoring to operation stages (Ramli, 2010). This is in line with The Ministerial Regulation of Public Works No: 26/PRT/M/2008, concerning Technical Requirement for Fire Protection System in Buildings and Environment, which stated that a building should function safely by having the protection system for planning, operation, development and utilization (Suprapto, 2008; Murtiadi, 2013; Ajizah, 2018). This indicates that fire safety aims to prevent the collapse of the building under flammable conditions, subsequently providing the occupants with sufficient time to escape safely (Suwondo, et.al, 2021).
    This study aims to identify the dominant FSM (Fire Safety Management) factors influential to safety reliability. According to Indonesian regulations, fire safety reliability is achieved through the execution of active and passive protection, rescue facilities, and exit routes (Xiang et al., 2011; Chen et al., 2012; Tofilo, et al., 2013). This indicates that the fire potential in high-rise buildings should be minimized. These building facilities should subsequently be adequate in achieving fire safety for occupants and property. Moreover, occupancy management should be regulated for the behaviours and activities of building occupants to be in line with the safety criteria. All utilized pieces of equipment should also be regularly maintained, sustained, and tested. These aforementioned principles are known as fire safety management, whose adequate implementation ensures safety reliability. Based on the FSM implementation in a high-rise building, various functions and recommendations are identified and delivered for continuous improvement. Structural Equation Modeling is also useful in describing the concept of a model with latent variables, which are measured through indicators although not directly. These variables are essentially processed in path analysis using SEM (Chin, 1998), a method used to enable the construction of the unobservable factors measured by indicators (items, manifest variables, or observed measures). It also enables the use of direct measurement models to analyze the observed variables (Chin, 1998).

Based on this study, fire lift indicators showed that the annual reports and emergency exit communications required attention, due to the lowest implementation being 16%, 52% and 58% in college buildings. This indicated that fire prevention, people safety, audit monitoring, and reactive assessment had significant effects on FSR (fire safety reliability), with a success rate of 80.7%. For the hotel, office, and college facilities in Jakarta, the FSM implementation on the high-rise building was categorically good. This indicated that the highest and lowest implementation values were observed in the hotel and college buildings, respectively. Meanwhile, the implementation value of the office buildings was found between the hotel and the college facilities. For improvement on each FSM variable, several recommendations were provided on the low implementation factors. To achieve optimum FSR, treatment should be conducted on the dominant and influential variables, namely fire prevention and audit monitoring. This indicated that the FSR model was affected by fire protection, people safety, audit monitoring, and reactive assessment, indicating that higher variable implementations led to better reliability. Additionally, the integration of all FSM variables supported the assurance of life and property safety in high-rise buildings.

    The authors are grateful to the Ministry of Research and Technology/National Research and Innovation Agency, for the provision of financial support through the PDUPT Grant 2021 with contract number: NKB-220/UN2. RST/HKP.05.00/2021, which is managed by the Directorate for Research and Community Engagement (DRPM), Ministry of Research and Technology/National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN). 

Ajizah, N., 2018. Perencanaan Sumber Daya Pada Pekerjaan Mekanikal dan Elektrikal Bangunan Gedung Apartemen Berbasis WBS (Work Breakdown Structure). (Resource Planning of Mechanical and Electrical Work in Apartment Building based on WBS (Work

Abolghasemzadeh, P., 2013. A Comprehensive Method for Environmentally Sensitive and Behavioral Microscopic Egress Analysis in Case of Fire in Buildings. Safety Science, Volume 59, pp. 1–9

Chen, H., Pittman, W., Hatanaka, L., Harding, B., Boussouf, A., Moore, D., Mannan, M., 2015. Integration of Process Safety Engineering and Fire Protection Engineering for Better Safety Performance. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, Volume 37, pp. 74–81

Chen, Y-Y., Chuang, Y-J., Huang, C-H., Lin, C-Y., Chien, S-W., 2012. The Adoption of Fire Safety Management for Upgrading the Fire Safety Level of Existing Hotel Buildings. Building and Environment, Volume 51, pp. 311–319

Chen, H., Pittman, W., Hatanaka, L., Harding, B., Boussouf, A., Moore, D., Mannan, M., 2015.

Integration of Process Safety Engineering and Fire Protection Engineering for Better Safety Performance. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, Volume 37, pp. 74–81

Chin, W., 1998. The Partial Least Squares Approach for Structural Equation. Modern Methods for Business. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Cowlard, A., Bittern, A., Empis, C. A., Torero, J., 2013.  Fire Safety Design for High Rise Buildings. Procedia Engineering, Volume 62, pp. 169–181

Eltom, R.H., Hamood, E.A., Mohammed, A.A., Osman, A.A., 2018. Early Warning Firefighting System using Internet of Things. In: International Conference on Computer, Control, Electrical, and Electronics Engineering

Ferguson, L., Janicak, C., 2005. Fundamentals of Fire Protection for Safety Professional. Lanhamn Maryland: Government Institutes, an imprint of The Scarecrow Press, Inc

Furness, A., Muckett, M., 2007. Introduction to Fire Safety Management, 1st edition. Burlington: Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford

Government of Western Australia. (2021). Building and Energy. Available online at https://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/sites/default/files/atoms/files/building_compliance_audit_strategy_2021-24_0.pdf

Haitao C., Leilei, L., Jiuzi, Q., 2012. Accident Cause Analysis and Evacuation Countermeaures on the      High-Rise Building Fires. Procedia Engineering, Volume 43, pp. 23–27

Jutras, I., Meacham, B., 2016. Development of Objective-Criteria-Scenario Triplets and Design Fires for Performance-Based Fire Safety Design. Journal of Building Engineering,

Volume 8, pp. 269–284

Kodur, V., Kumar, P., Rafi, M.M., 2018. Fire Hazard in Buildings: Review, Assessment and Strategies for Improving Fire Safety. PSU Research Review, Volume 4(1), pp. 1–23

Maluk, C., Woodrow, M., Torero, J., 2017. The Potential of Integrating Fire Safety in Modern Building Design. Fire Safety Journal, Volume 88, pp. 104–112 

Mareta, Y., Hidayat, B., 2020. Evaluasi Penerapan Sistem Keselamatan Kebakaran Pada Gedung-gedung umum di Kota Payakumbuh (Evaluation of a fire safety system public building implementation in Payakumbuh).  Jurnal Rekayasa Sipil, Volume 16(1), pp. 65–76

Murtiadi, S., 2013. Review of Indonesian Standard for Concrete Building Subjected to Fire.  Procedia Engineering, Volume 54, pp. 668–674

Nimlyat, P.S., Audu, A.U., Ola-Adisa, E.O., Gwatau, D., 2017. An Evaluation of ?re Safety Measures in High-Rise Buildings in Nigeria. Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 35, p. 774–785

Nugroho, Setyo, P., 2022. Development of a Fire Insurance Premium Cost Model for High-Rise Buildings Using WBS-Based Fire Safety Management Approach to Produce Realistic Premium Cost. Doctoral’s Dissertation, Graduate Program, Universitas Indonesia

Rahardjo, H.A., 2020. The Most Critical Issues and Challenges of Fire Safety for Building Sustainability in Jakarta. Journal of Building Engineering, Volume 29, pp. 1–10

Ramli, S., 2010. Fire Safety Management Practical Guide

Selena, I., Safriani, M., Novrizal, 2019. Identifikasi Sistem Proteksi kebakaran Serta Tingkat Keandalan Keselamatan Bangunan Fakultas Kesehatan Masyarakat di Universitas Teuku Umar (Identification of the Fire Protection System and the Level of Reliability of the Building Safety of the Faculty of Public Health at Teuku Umar University) Education Building, Volume 5(2), pp. 50-58

Sharma, P., Dhanwantri, K., & Mehta, S. (2014). In Evacuation Patterns in High-Rise Buildings. International Journal of Civil Engineering Research. pp. 2278-3652

Suprapto. (2008). Tinjauan Eksistensi Standar-Standar (SNI) Proteksi Kebakaran dan Penerapannya dalam Mendukung Implementasi Peraturan Keselalamatan Bagunan (Review of the Existence of Fire Protection Standards (SNI) and Its Application in Supporting the Implementation of Building Safety Regulations). In: Proceeding PPIS Bandung

Suwondo, R., Cunningham, L., Gillie, M., Suangga, M., Hidayat, I., 2021. Model Parameter Sensitivity for Structural Analysis of Composite Slab Structures in Fire. International Journal of Technology. Volume 12(2), pp. 339–348

Tofilo, P., Konecki, M., Galaj, J., Jaskolowski, W., Tusnio , N., Cisek, M., 2013. Expert System for Building Fire Safety Analysis and Risk Assessment. Procedia Engineering, Volume 57, pp. 1156–1165

Wold, H., 1982. Soft Modelling: The Basic Design and Some Extensions. Systems Under Indirect Observation, pp 36 - 37

Wold, H., 1985. Partial Least Square. Encylopedia of Statistical Sciencies, Volume 8, pp. 587-599

Wulandari, B., & Trikomara, R. (2018). Analisa Keandalan Sistem Proteksi Kebakaran Pada Bangunan Ayola First Point Hotel Pekanbaru. (Reliability of the Fire Protection System in the Ayola First Point Hotel Pekanbaru). Master”s Thesis, Graduate Program, Universitas Riau, Indonesia, pp. 1-9

Xiang, X.Z., Fang, Z.X., Li, G.W., 2011. Applied Research of Performance-Based Fire Protection Design in a Large Building. Procedia Engineering, Volume 11, pp. 566–574

Xiuyu, L., Hao, Z., Qingming, Z., 2012. Factor Analysis of High-Rise Building Fires Reasons and Fire Protection Measures. Procedia Engineering, Volume 45, pp. 643–648

Zhi-Xiang, Xio-Fang, Z., Hua, S., Wen-li, G., 2011. Applied Research of Performance-based Fire Protection Design in a Large Building. Procedia Engineerin, Volume 11, pp. 566–574

Zulfiar, M., Gunawan, A., 2018. Evaluasi Sistem Proteksi Kebakaran pada Bangunan Hotel UNY 5 lantai di Yogyakarta (Evaluation on Fire Protection System at UNY Hotel Building 5 Floors in Yogyakarta). Semesta Teknika, Volume 21(1), pp. 65–71