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Key Findings:
Research carried out in priority areas in Bristol to investigate the effectiveness of the Home Fire Safety Visit (HFSV) conducted by Avon Fire and Rescue Service to educate residents about home fire safety had the following key findings:

In general and prior to HFSV’s householders tended to over-estimate their safety, experienced complacency with respect to fire hazards and often made (un)reasonable adaptions/avoidances to overcome potential hazards, and this increases with age. Understanding these pre-conceptions could enable FRS to tailor and target their advice, possibly leading to more impact.

Residents’ experience of the HFSV was varied due to specific needs and vulnerabilities. Some of the older residents in this research experienced specific cognitive issues (e.g. memory problems) that inhibited their ability to engage in some of the suggested safety behaviours suggesting that some adaptation to the HFSV is required in order to more fully meet the needs in the community.

The HFSV offers an opportunity for those who have knowledge about safety to receive reassurance about their information and behaviours, and to check and correct those who are operating with incorrect knowledge and behaviours. Some simple and easily achievable behaviour changes were made. However more complex and sustained behaviour changes were more difficult to ascertain. There is a suggestion that cost and vulnerabilities (including age and health) constrain behaviour change. There is opportunity for further research using a more complex research design and longer time period would to investigate this area fully.

In this report, we (Health team researchers at the Center for Advanced Hindsight at Duke University and collaborators) discuss some of our research on health behavior. We show the power of behavioral science in helping individuals at every stage of their healthcare journey. Taking care of our health does not just mean going to the doctor when we are ill or taking our medication. It also means doing the things that will prevent us from getting ill and taking care of our health finances. In other words, health is about curative care, prevention and finance, which together forms a comprehensive approach to health behavior. We think of health as a tree, where the roots symbolize stable finances, the trunk stands for adequate prevention, and the branches and leaves, which grow back when they fall off, symbolize curative care.

A report from East Sussex Fire and Rescue in the UK, “Applying Behavioral Insights to Fire Safety – A Trial to Reduce Incidents of Accidental House Fires.”

They moved away from focusing on the traditional audiences and developed non-traditional strategies and took a rigorous approach to data collection that informed the evolution of the project. This meant they did not focus on the usual “at risk” groups, but instead focused on the demographic that was creating the true problem in the community and that could cause change. A very good example of a Community Risk Assessment that then informed the Community Risk Reduction plan.

This is a report produced by the Scientific Research Council of the Netherlands Fire Service in 2016 that has eight articles authored by different subject matter experts in the fields of behavioral science and fire safety.