Comprehensive plan for assessing and improving safety level of commercial centers towards the prevention of social and economical consequences of accidents

Commercial centers are considered very important areas. Considering the huge volume of manpower and economic value of goods in these centers, this domain will assume higher importance. Possible accidents, such as fires in commercial centers can be occasion human, social, and economic catastrophic consequences. This study was an attempt to assess the safety level of Tehran's commercial centers and provide control measures to prevent possible accidents. To this end, the current state of Tehran's commercial is analyzed and available resources are identified. Then, safety indexes are extracted, some checklists are prepared, and the resources are accordingly assessed. For this purpose, the number of 48 commercial centers was selected. The results obtained from the assessment of resources indicate that the greatest gap belongs to the protection system against fire and buildings, respectively. This study proposes five alternatives for improving the safety of commercial centers, as follows: (a) implementing audit and evaluation system, (b) establishing reliability management system for fire fighting equipment, (c) monitoring and analyzing accidents and preparing GIS maps, (d) implementing 5S system in workplace and (e) establishing a reliability management system for safety trainings. Based on the results of this study, managers and other decision-makers in the area of urban planning and commercial centers can identify weak points in the system, improve their safety level, and, thereby, be effective in reducing the social and economic consequences of accidents.