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Reported fire safety and first-aid amenities in Airbnb venues in 16 American cities
  1. Hudson R. Kennedy1,
  2. Vanya C Jones2,3,
  3. Andrea Gielen2,3
  1. 1 River Hill High School, Howard County Board of Education, Clarksville, Maryland, USA
  2. 2 Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
  3. 3 Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Vanya C Jones, Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; vjones{at}jhu.edu

Abstract

Airbnb helps hosts rent all or part of their home to guests as an alternative to traditional hospitality settings. Airbnb venues are not uniformly regulated across the USA. This study quantified the reported prevalence of fire safety and first-aid amenities in Airbnb venues in the USA. The sample includes 120 691 venues in 16 US cities. Proportions of host-reported smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors, fire extinguishers and first-aid kits were calculated. The proportion of venues that reportedly contained amenities are as follows: smoke detectors 80% (n=96 087), CO detectors 56% (n=69 346), fire extinguishers 42% (n=50 884) and first-aid kits 36% (n=43 497). Among this sample of Airbnb venues, safety deficiencies were noted. While most venues had smoke alarms, approximately 1/2 had CO alarms and less than 1/2 reported having a fire extinguishers or first-aid kits. Local and state governments or Airbnb must implement regulations compliant with current National Fire Protection Association fire safety standards.

  • policy
  • building code
  • public health

https://doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2018-042740

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors HRK conceptualised the paper and conducted the data analysis and authored the first draft. VCJ contributed to the study design and made significant contributions to the interpretation of data and writing. AG contributed to the study design and reviewed/contributed to drafts of the paper. All authors reviewed and approved the final draft.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement Data are publically available from InsideAirbnb.com.