Descriptive and bowtie analysis of commercial fire outbreaks in Ghana: Threats, consequences and control measures

In Ghana, fire outbreaks at commercial facilities have been on the rise, resulting in devastating consequences. These recurring fire events indicate the failure of the Ghanaian society to learn from past fire events for prevention purposes. Past research has focused on fire trends, modelling and management, with no focus on the causal factors. This research, therefore, addresses the knowledge gap in the causes of recurring commercial fires in Ghana in a meaningful and graphical way using bowtie analysis. Publicly available data on commercial fires were obtained from the websites of reputable online sources and the Ghana National Fire Service. 140 fire cases were identified following the application of several selection criteria. The data was first analysed to identify patterns and trends. Bowtie analysis was then applied to filter the data. It was observed that most of the fires occurred in the Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions, and this was expected due to the high economic activities in those regions of Ghana. Again, the number of fire cases has been increasing over the years, with most cases recorded in recent years, particularly from 2017 onwards. Using the bowtie analysis method led to the grouping of the issues into causes of fires, consequences of fires, and controls for overcoming commercial fires. Specifically, causes related to human behaviour and electrical installations/appliances were frequent, highlighting a policy direction in improving fire safety related human behaviour and standard practices on electrical installations/appliances at commercial facilities. The bowtie allows for a summary illustration of how and why commercial fires continue to occur and offers potential practical strategies for improving fire safety at commercial facilities. • Commercial fires have become recurring events, indicating the failure of society to learn from past fires • 140 commercial fire outbreaks in Ghana were examined through bowtie analysis. • Electrical appliances and installations were the major cause of the fires, thus improving electrical safety is a priority. • Some interrelationships among the causes were identified, suggesting that a systemic approach is required to address the causes.