| This thesis presents the assessment of current safety measures in the design and use of residential buildings in Saudi Arabia and identifies common safety deficiencies. To achieve these objectives two types of survey were undertaken. The first type of survey was designed to assess how building designers express their experiences in dealing with safety measures in the design of typical types of residential buildings. Namely, villas, low-rise and high-rise apartment buildings. The second type of survey was designed to investigate safety practices in existing residential buildings in addition to assessing the degree of safety awareness among residents in their homes.;Based on the literature review, the outcome from the analyses of two questionnaires and safety deficiencies, a systematic safety compliance in the form of a checklist was developed with respect to existing local safety instructions and international safety codes and standards. This checklist can be used by the design offices and safety authorities in the design and approval of new residential buildings. In addition, safety audit checklist for assessing the effectiveness of safety measures in existing residential buildings was formulated.;Residents survey results showed that most of them do not take care of many safety aspects in their homes especially fire and smoke control related issues. In fact, most of the buildings surveyed do not have the required fire protection systems. Moreover, most of the residents do not pay sufficient attention to electrical safety requirements. Finally, conclusions and recommendations were presented.;A total of 102 and 433 completed forms were collected out of 112 and 480 distributed forms from the first and the second types of the questionnaire, respectively. Both of these surveys were statistically analyzed. The surveys showed that considerations of safety issues by the designers as well as safety authorities are ineffective especially for low-rise type of residential buildings. In addition, results indicated that many safety issues are not seriously considered in the design of villas and low-rise apartment buildings while better considerations are given to high rise apartment buildings. |
