A Survey of Staff Preparedness in Tehran Universities of Medical Sciences Libraries Towards Fire

Background: Staff awareness of fire safety immensely minimize the damage of the disaster. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of awareness and preparedness of fire emergency among the libraries staff of Tehran Universities of Medical Sciences in 2019. Methods: In this survey study, the statistical population of the study consisted of 138 staff working in the libraries of Tehran Universities of Medical Sciences. A researcher-made questionnaire with closed questions was used to collect the required data. Using Cronbach s alpha formula, the reliability of the questionnaire was estimated to be 0.88. The validity of the questionnaire was also confirmed by the statistical experts. SPSS (version 23) was used to analyze the collected data. Results: Results obtained from the analyses of the questionnaire showed that majority of the respondents were moderately aware of fire safety rules in libraries (3.1). In addition, the analysis of variance (P = 0.41) revealed no statistically significant difference among the libraries staff in terms of awareness and preparedness level towards fire. Conclusion: Lack of library staff training in fire safety rules, make them ill-prepared during the disaster. Therefore, in order to make the staff alert, disaster preparedness planning is highly needed which requires more attention of the relevant officials.