The Efficiency of Fire Protection Systems in Major Public Buildings in Ghana:A Case Study of Selected Major Public Buildings in the Sunyani Municipality, Ghana

The numerous fire outbreaks in recent times which has claimed many innocent lives and destroyed several properties worth billions of cedis confirms the assertion that fire is a good servant but a bad master. The huge loss of lives and properties from fire outbreaks has been attributed to the ineffective fire protection systems in public buildings. This thesis scrutinised the state of emergency routes and efficiency of fire protection systems in public buildings. To achieve this, a purposive sampling technique was used to sample 130 respondents made up of Fire Officers, workers in public buildings and building inspectors. Questionnaires, interview and field survey were basically used to collate data from the respondents. Tables and figures were generated to analyse and present the findings. From the findings, the research identified several factors which greatly contributed to the inefficiencies of fire protection systems in public buildings. These include lack of fire safety measures, limited emergency routes and exit points, inadequate fire fighting equipment, lack of fire alert systems and inadequate knowledge of fire protection systems by users. The study therefore recommended the installation of modern fire protection systems, provision of enough emergency route and exit points and regular inspection of electrical installation in public buildings.