COMPARISON OF MALAYSIA'S BUILDING REGULATIONS REGARDING MEANS OF ESCAPE ROUTES IN STUDENT HOSTELS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24191/myse.v12i2.7081Keywords:
Fire, Means of Escape, Safety, Student Hoste, UBBL 1984Abstract
A student hostel is an accommodation provided by educational institutions, offering shared living spaces for students. It needs to comply with building standards and safety features. Fire incidents in a student hostel can negatively impact students' futures. Tragic instances, such as the fire at the Madrasah Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah in 2017 and a similar incident in Georgetown, Guyana, highlighted the importance of these safety measures. Due to this, the Twelfth Malaysia Plan mandates measures to address outdated and unsafe buildings, particularly student hostels. Buildings constructed based on outdated standards may not meet current requirements. Therefore, this research aims to identify the design criteria of means of escape and to evaluate the changes in Uniform Building By-Law provisions regarding means of escape. A qualitative approach is used for data collection via evaluating archival documents and expert validation. The building standards compared are the Uniform Building By-Laws 1984 as of 2015 and Uniform Building By-Laws 1984 as of 2022. The collected data is analysed using content analysis that integrates passive and active fire protection by distinguishing the means of escape requirements prescribed in both building regulations. The analysis identified seven design criteria for safe escape routes: travel distance, door, exit, staircase, emergency lighting, communication, power system, signage, and fire-fighting requirements. This research provides valuable insights for designers and policymakers by highlighting regulatory changes such as newly added, removed, substituted, amended, and maintained prescriptive requirements. By shedding light on the motivations behind these changes, this research could impact future updates to building laws.
References
Abdul Samad, M. H. (2021, May). Fire Safety Regulations: A Comparative Study of Malaysia and England and Wales. Building Engineer. https://www.buildingengineer.org.uk/intelligence/fire-safety-regulations-comparative-study-malaysia-and-england-and-wales.
Abu Bakar, H. (Ed.). (2006). Guide to Fire Protection in Malaysia (2nd ed.). The Institution of Fire Engineers (UK) Malaysia Branch (FEM).
Bernama. (2014, 13 October). Tiga bilik asrama Kolej Universiti Islam Melaka terbakar. BHarian.
https://www.bharian.com.my/taxonomy/term/11/2014/10/ 11335/tiga-bilik-asrama-kolej-universiti-islam-melaka-terbakar
BERNAMA. (2023, 15 August). Databank Disasters & Calamities Fire - Hostels.
BERNAMA Library and Infolink Service (BLIS). https://blis.bernama.com/index.php?mod=articles&opt=la&cid=8&scid=2863&aid=5959196
Chong, L. S. (2013). Uniform Building By-Laws 1984 (Amendments) 2012. PAM Professional Practice Forum 2013, 1–3.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research Design. Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (Fifth Edition). SAGE Publications.
Degala, V. K. Y. (2017). Minimising the Emergency Evacuation Time Of A Building (Issue May) [Master of Science]. The University of Akron.
Economic Planning Unit. (2021). Twelfth Malaysia Plan, 2021-2025. Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister's Department Malaysia. https://www.epu.gov.my.
Fong, T. Y. (2017). History of the Development of the Uniform Building By-Laws 1984. The Ingenieur, 51–56.
Hagiwara, I., & Tanaka, T. (1994). International Comparison of Fire Safety Provisions for Means of Escape. Fire Safety Science, 4, 633–644. http://www.iafss.org/publications/fss/4/633.
Hisham, B. (2011). An overview of the Uniform Building By-Laws, 1984 & the Amendments 2007. http://badrulhishamarchitect.blogspot.com/2011/03/overview-of-uniform-building-by-laws_963.html.
Hung, W. Y., & Chow, W. K. (2001). Review On Fire Regulations For New High-Rise Commercial Buildings In Hong Kong And A Brief Comparison With Those In Overseas. International Journal of Engineering Performance-Based Fire Codes, 3(1), 25–51.
Jaafar, A. S. (2024). Enhancing Fire Safety Regulations for Malaysian Student Hostels; Effective Means of Escape. Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Perak.
Jaafar, A. S., & Abdul Talib, Y. (2017). Means of Escape Assessment Procedure for Hospital's Building in Malaysia. The International Journal of Engineering and Science, 06(06), 32–36. https://doi.org/10.9790/1813-0606023236.
Jaafar, A. S., Abdul Talib, Y., Ismail, A., & Othman, M. A. (2022). Fire Safety for Residential College in Higher Education: A Literature Review. E-Proceedings v-GOGREEN2021.
Kofi, A., Joshua, A., Peter, A., & Emmanuel, B. B. (2016). Challenges to fire safety management in multi-storey students' hostels. International Journal of Flexible Manufacturing Systems, 4(1), 53–61.
Lo, S. M. (1998). A building safety inspection system for fire safety issues in. Structural Survey, 16(4), 209–217.
Mahmoud, A. S., Sanni-Anibire, M. O., & Hassanain, M. A. (2017). Performance-based fire safety evacuation of an auditorium facility using a theoretical calculation method. International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, 35(2), 124–138. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJBPA-11-2016-0027.
Mat Isa, B., & Kamaruzzaman, S. N. (2014). Fire Safety Audit of Buildings. University of Malaya Press.
Muthiah, P., Naidu, R. S., Badzis, M., Mat Nayan, N. F., Abdul Rahim, R., & Abdul Aziz, N. H. (2020). Qualitative Research Data Collection and Data Analysis Techniques (2nd ed.). UUM Press.
New Straits Times. (2023, 23 May). Fire that killed 19 in Guyana school dorm may have been set "maliciously." New Straits Times. https://www.nst.com.my/world/world/2023/05/912279/fire-killed-19-guyana-school-dorm-may-have-been-set-maliciously.
Portal Rasmi Kementerian Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan. (2022). Koleksi Buku Laporan Tahunan Kpkt Dari Tahun 2006 Sehingga 2019. https://www.kpkt.gov.my/index.php/pages/view/162.
Rong, T. Y., Akashah, F., & Mahyuddin, N. (2014). Agent-Based Fire Evacuation Model as a Tool for Fire Safety Design Assessment in Malaysia. International Journal of Property Sciences, 4(1), 1–13.
Sanni-Anibire, M. O., & Hassanain, M. A. (2015). An integrated fire safety assessment of a student housing facility. Structural Survey, 33(4–5), 354–371. https://doi.org/10.1108/SS-03-2015-0017.
Shittu, A. A., Idiake, J. E., Oweyobi, L. O., Tsado, A. J., Bilyaminu, B., & Mac-Barango, D. O. (2016). Viability Of Fire Escape Routes In The Student Hostels At Selected Katsina State Tertiary Institutions. Proceedings of the School of Environmental Technology International Conference (SETIC 2016), 657–671. http://repository.futminna.edu.ng:8080/jspui/handle/123456789/2208.
Simpeh, F., & Adisa, S. (2021). Evaluation of on-campus student housing facilities security and safety performance. Facilities, 39(7–8), 470–487. https://doi.org/10.1108/F-04-2020-0051.
Teruki, E. G. (2022). Overview Amendment UBBL 2021 . In Seminar on Uniform Building By-Law 1984 (Amendment 2021).
Uniform Building (Amendment) By-Laws. (2015). Uniform Building By-Law 1984 (Legal Research Board, Ed.). International Law Book Services.
Uniform Building (Amendment) By-Laws. (2022). Uniform Building By-Law 1984 (Legal Research Board, Ed.). International Law Book Services.
Zhang, L., Wu, X., Liu, M., Liu, W., & Ashuri, B. (2019). Discovering worst fire scenarios in subway stations: A simulation approach. Automation in Construction, 99 (November 2018), 183–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2018.12.007.
Zulkiffli, Z. (2021). Tingkat tiga asrama pelajar UUM terbakar. HMetro. https://www.hmetro.com.my/mutakhir/2021/07/732813/tingkat-tiga-asrama-pelajar-uum-terbakar.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Malaysian Journal of Sustainable Environment
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Myse journal is a scholarly online, open access, peer reviewed journal.
Started in June 2023, the Malaysian Journal of Sustainable Environment is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
