Residential smoke detector performance in the United States

Abstract

The National Smoke Detector Project is a large public/private partnership sponsored by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the United States Fire Administration, National Fire Protection Association, and the Congressional Fire Services Institute. The major goal of the Project is to decrease the number of residential fire deaths in the US by increasing the number of working smoke detectors in homes.

In support of this effort, in 1992 the CPSC conducted a national survey of the operability of smoke detectors in homes. The purpose of the Smoke Detector Operability Survey was to determine the extent of and reasons for non-working detectors in the general population of households. Detectors that did not respond to a test with standard aerosol smoke (initially or after power was restored) along with those with no power source and with which consumers experienced problems were collected and analyzed in the CPSC Engineering Laboratory.

The data gathered from this survey (and a similar study of homes experiencing fires) will define smoke detector inoperability problems so that solutions can be developed and implemented in the form of updated consumer safety messages and changes in smoke detector design or performance standards and code requirements.

Keywords:

• residential fires
• smoke detectors
• product failure
• effectiveness

Notes

Footnote: This paper was written by Margaret Neily, Charles Smith, and Julie Shapiro of the Consumer Product Safety Commission in their official capacity. The views expressed, however, are those of the authors and are not necessarily the views of the Commission. The paper is in the public domain and may be freely copied or reprinted.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Margaret L. Neily

Correspondence address: Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Directorate for Engineering Sciences, Room 611, Washington, DC 20207, USA.

Charles L. Smith

Correspondence address: Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Directorate for Engineering Sciences, Room 611, Washington, DC 20207, USA.

Julie I. Shapiro

Correspondence address: Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Directorate for Engineering Sciences, Room 611, Washington, DC 20207, USA.