1. Introduction
Annually, emergency situations result in the loss of human lives and significant material damages. According to Bahmani et al., the total number of natural disasters in 2021 exceeded the average of natural disasters that occurred between the years 2001 and 2020. Besides natural disasters, the population is exposed to other emergency situations caused by humans themselves, such as terrorist attacks, industrial accidents, but above all, urban fires, the most common cause of emergency worldwide [
1,
2]. The evacuation process plays a crucial role in preserving human life, so new models were developed to facilitate the evacuation planning process, especially when considering moving vulnerable people [
3,
4,
5].
When discussing fire safety in buildings, the primary concern will always be to ensure conditions considered of minimal acceptable risk for the occupants of these buildings and, from a different perspective, for insurers, the safety conditions of the building itself, and the assets it contains [
6].
The existence of an internal emergency plan (IEP) allows the occupants of a particular building to know the risks they are exposed to and, above all, how to act in an emergency case so as to minimize physical or material damage. During the execution of the plan and after the phase of detection, recognition, and evaluation, the alert phase follows, with various teams that are part of the emergency organization coming into action, including the evacuation team. In an emergency case, evacuation is one of the main measures, and when well-prepared, it can save lives [
7,
8].
Assertive behavior during emergency evacuation may not have a significant effect on material losses, but it is crucial for preserving human life. Therefore, the goal of evacuation of occupants is to reach a stable location [
9], commonly referred to as a meeting point or gathering point, safely and swiftly.
In educational facilities, issues related to emergency evacuation can become more problematic, first because they are highly populated buildings, and secondly due to the lower capacity for risk analysis, perception, and response by their occupants, mainly students [
1], especially during the early years of study. It is unrealistic to expect logical and correct actions from students, no matter how many simulations they had participated in [
10]. For this reason, in primary and secondary educational establishments, the preparation of school staff and the emergency plan outlined for the building are of great importance. However, this does not exempt the need for awareness-raising actions for students and their participation in drills. “Education for safety and risk prevention is a fundamental element in building a safety culture, by developing skills in the field of prevention and self-protection” [
11] (p. 34). Whenever possible, new technologies can be used to motivate younger individuals, especially in evacuation scenarios based on games, as combining gaming with emotion, in the context of educational data exploration applicable to crisis management, provides reliable results in a less invasive manner [
12]. Similarly, in HEIs, the issue of evacuation is equally critical, firstly due to their dense population, then due to the size and complexity of some buildings. The presence of students from other countries, not familiar with local safety culture, can also lead to evacuation failures, especially in essential facilities within these buildings, such as cafeterias and auditoriums, where the concentration of occupants is higher, or laboratories, places that can lead to emergency evacuation due to chemical, biological, or physical risk factors [
13]. Evidence shows that university laboratories have a higher degree of hazardousness compared to industrial laboratories, primarily due to the lack of promotion and investment in an appropriate safety culture [
14]. Therefore, it is essential that all occupants are provided with proper training, and there should be serious commitment by the safety services to ensure the participation of individuals in each building in emergency drills. This ensures they can respond quickly and effectively to an emergency [
15].
During and after emergency events, schools must ensure the safety of their students. According to a study conducted in New Zealand on student safety in emergencies, Tipler et al. [
16] concluded that the results indicated differences related to the preparedness and planning of each educational institution for emergency events. This was linked to a lack of clarity regarding the activities that should be carried out by the responsible parties in each institution. Kano et al. [
17], in a study on emergency preparedness conducted in three school districts in Los Angeles, also found that school emergency plans needed improvement. This included training and drills to make the emergency response more efficient. In addition, Bandecchi et al. [
18] assessed the emergency preparedness and risk perception related to seismic risk in 27 schools in Italy and concluded that the knowledge of younger children is appropriate for their age, but it does not increase proportionally with age. They also found that the competence of the personnel responsible for student safety is insufficient, likely due to a low perception of risk, underestimating the importance of preventive actions. A study, conducted by Ding and Sun [
19], in an older sample (university students), aimed to understand leader and follower behaviors and concluded that the external environmental factors, individual psychological factors, and personal senses characterized students’ route selection. Also, students tended to follow the paths of those in the front of the group, a behavior also known as the “herd phenomenon”. Regarding re-entry into the correct evacuation route, half of the participants followed the behavior of other participants. They also found that half of the participants chose the same path twice, indicating that they may have done so due to familiarity with a route during an experimental test.
The success of evacuation in an emergency is intrinsically linked to the fire safety strategy and emergency decision making [
20], as well as the knowledge and attitudes of the occupants of a particular building. Therefore, it is important, first, to understand the knowledge and attitudes that HEI students demonstrate in an emergency, and second, to create methods for raising awareness on this matter. This study aims to evaluate the general knowledge and attitudes of occupants in HEI buildings regarding safety and emergency evacuation, with a particular focus on fire emergencies related to urban areas, allowing an understanding of the occupants’ perceptions, the main defects, and future needs for implementing new safety awareness methods.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Type and Sample
We conducted an observational cross-sectional study involving a sample of the academic community (composed of students, faculty, and non-teaching staff, totaling 22,422 persons) of an HEI located in the Porto district, Portugal. The institution comprises 8 academic units of teaching and research (schools) and 2 administrative central services, hereafter referred to as organic units (OUs). The target population of the study was around 22,000 people.
The data collection instrument was a questionnaire survey, used to assess the level of knowledge within the academic community regarding safety and evacuation in the event of an emergency in a school-like building.
2.2. Data Collection Instruments
Each participant completed and submitted an individual, voluntary, and anonymous questionnaire to provide information about their general knowledge and attitudes regarding safety and actions during emergency situations in HEI buildings. This questionnaire was adapted from the original survey conducted by Zmud [
21] and adapted and translated into Portuguese by Salgado [
22]. Additionally, some questions used by Marrafa [
23] were included due to their relevance to the objectives of this study. The final version of the questionnaire, after a pilot test, consists of thirty-two questions (30 closed-ended and 2 open-ended) organized into four domains, namely: (A) characterization of the target population; (B) general knowledge about building safety and evacuation (assessing respondents’ knowledge of building safety and evacuation); (C) attitudes and behaviors in emergency situations (understanding the types of attitudes and behaviors exhibited by respondents during an emergency); and (D) training and experience (identifying whether respondents are aware of the topic and assessing the quality and importance of training and drills).
2.3. Ethics and Study Disclosure
This study was approved by the institution’s Ethics Committee on 12 July 2023, and received a favorable opinion from the Data Protection Officer (DPO) of the HEI on 6 July 2023. To publicize the study and recruit participants, an email was sent containing information about the study’s theme and a link to access the electronic questionnaire created on the Microsoft Forms platform. This questionnaire was available from July to September, 2023.
The procedures for data collection adhered to the guidelines outlined in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). To store the collected data, a database was created using IBM SPSS Statistics 28 software. All data in the database are anonymized and stored on a restricted-access desktop computer.
2.4. Data Processing and Analysis
For data processing and analysis, data from the Microsoft Forms platform were first extracted into an Excel spreadsheet, with separate tabs for questionnaire elements. Four separate tabs were created: one for personal data, one for general knowledge, another for attitudes and behaviors, and a final one for training and experience. For the latter three tabs, scores were calculated according to
Table 1. The questions are presented in
Appendix A.
Subsequently, the data were migrated to the IBM SPSS Statistics 28 for descriptive and inferential statistical analyses.
Descriptive analysis of the data was performed, followed by an assessment of the normality of the variables, specifically the Knowledge Score, Attitude Score, and Training Score, using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test with Lilliefors correction. Variables were considered to follow a normal distribution when p > 0.05.
To analyze the relationship between different participant groups and the scores obtained in the three domains, we initially intended to perform one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to compare scores among the three groups or independent samples’ t-tests. However, since the assumptions for these tests were not met, non-parametric tests were used, such as the Kruskal–Wallis test. A significance level of 0.05 was considered.
4. Discussion
The results show that the general knowledge regarding safety and emergency evacuation in the academic community of the institution under study are at an intermediate/high levels. However, when it comes to the topic of training and experience, the average score falls into the low/intermediate range. Regarding the attitudes and behaviors, the academic community is at an intermediate level.
Regarding knowledge and attitudes, Marrafa [
23], in a study conducted at an institution of higher education, observed a limited understanding among the respondents concerning the facilities and safety equipment for fire prevention. In contrast, Salgado [
22] concluded that the majority of occupants in an HEI set of buildings, had a good overall knowledge and perception of the subject. Meanwhile, Cordeiro et al. [
24] determined that knowledge in this area has not been sufficiently consolidated, suggesting the need for national-level information to overcome existing knowledge barriers and to develop a behavioral model relevant to the country’s reality. Ferreira [
25], in a study of an educational institution in Brazil, identified a lack of knowledge among students and staff on the subject, and found that the building’s facilities did not comply with safety regulations, in contrast to the values obtained in this study’s questionnaire, where approximately 75% of respondents believed the facilities were prepared for a potential fire incident. Concerning the identification of emergency alarms, it was noted that over 60% of the sample was unfamiliar with, or had never heard of, the emergency alarm, a problem that Marrafa [
23] similarly noted to be of greater magnitude.
In general, when it comes to knowledge about the building and the ability to locate safety equipment, there are results that are incongruent when compared to data from similar studies. The study conducted by Al-Zyoud et al. [
26] shows that there were weaknesses regarding how staff deal with specific emergency incidents, such as the proper use of fire extinguishers, which can also explain students’ poor attitudes and knowledge of safety. To significantly improve knowledge and attitudes regarding fire safety, innovative methods, such as game-based programs, should be introduced to facilitate occupant engagement with learning [
27].
Regarding the perception that respondents have of the evacuation time during an emergency, more than 58% believed it would take less than 5 min. However, as Freitas [
28] pointed out, when there is an imbalanced distribution of occupants, queues and population clusters can form, and factors such as stress can significantly increase emergency evacuation times, as noted by Cao et al. [
29]. Additionally, in a study related to emergency evacuation, Balboa et al. [
30] indicated that participants do not always react promptly to sirens, leading to evacuation delays. Some research even suggests that for real pre-evacuation events, evacuation times can reach an average of 10 min [
31]. Regarding the use of elevators for building evacuation, the percentage of respondents indicating that “using elevators is never safe” aligns with the results of Salgado [
22]. A total of 77.30% of respondents claimed that they would know how to respond in case of a fire, and 68.88% in the event of an earthquake. However, 74.74% of individuals reported having no prior experience in the safety/emergency field, and 27.81% of respondents had never received any training in this field, despite legal requirements. The deficient safety awareness policies of institutions play a critical role in occupant knowledge and attitudes, as they fail to provide the required training and communication strategies to sensitize occupants to safety issues proactively. According to Tipler et al. [
16], the communication during the preparation and prevention phases is often inadequate in many institutions, which is why Cristo [
11] emphasizes the need for educational establishments to better prepare their occupants in terms of both training and emergency drills, which may incorporate new technologies to optimize evacuation plans [
12]. Concerning drills, more than 57% of respondents indicated they had never participated in one. Regarding the emerging technology in this field, Kuo et al. [
32] proposed using a smartphone voice-guided evacuation system to provide alternative evacuation routes for civilians trapped at a fire scene. This could be a possible solution to be adopted in HEI buildings since, in a real scenario, smoke reduces the visibility of emergency direction signs, making them ineffective in providing appropriate guidance along evacuation routes in a fire situation.
This study had some limitations, including a relatively small sample. The period of data collection included the summer holidays, potentially affecting the sample size. Additionally, sending the questionnaire to institutional emails may have allowed responses from former members of academic community (alumni), despite the detailed explanation of questionnaire fulfillment. Also, the main constraint was that the students do not frequently access institutional emails.
5. Conclusions
Based on the obtained results, it is evident that, in comparison with similar studies conducted in higher education institutions (HEIs), the conclusions vary among different studies. The identified gaps in the three dimensions assessed in this study—knowledge, attitudes, and training—suggest the need for improvements in the safety policy of the analyzed higher education institution.
The knowledge of the occupants achieved a higher average score, while the training dimension scored the lowest. Therefore, to continuously improve knowledge and attitudes of the academic community, there is the need to implement awareness-raising actions for all. Training actions in fire safety are crucial to increase the awareness of occupants and empower them to use existing equipment and means, as well as to apply effective and rapid evacuation techniques. It is recommended that training be provided to all occupants during the first semester of each academic year, covering topics such as self-protection measures, fire phenomena, installed safety equipment, firefighting practices, and evacuation techniques. Awareness-raising actions can be carried out more frequently and include community questionnaires, seminars, workshops, and informative videos. Disseminating information through QR codes in places frequented by members of the academic community can also be effective. Simulations play a fundamental role in creating emergency and evacuation routines. It is recommended to conduct simulation exercises at times involving the highest number of occupants and to collaborate with external entities such as firefighters, police, and civil protection to make scenarios more realistic. Furthermore, it is important to consider that simulations should include different scenarios such as bomb threats or terrorist attacks, as occupants demonstrated less knowledge about how to react to these situations. For future research, a more targeted approach to the training and awareness dimensions of fire safety in buildings is suggested. This would allow for a more in-depth analysis of training and awareness needs, aiming to improve awareness and preparedness of occupants for fire safety, responding efficiently to a building emergency and evacuation. The design of a longitudinal study will allow us to examine the evolution of safety knowledge and preparedness over an extended period.