Development of an Electrical Fire Risk Assessment Framework for Residential Buildings in Sultanate of Oman

This study developed a comprehensive electrical fire risk assessment framework tailored forresidential buildings in the Sultanate of Oman, aiming to identify and calculate fire riskswhile addressing gaps in existing fire safety legislation. The framework systematically movesthrough six stages: fire event identification, scenario development, quantitative risk analysis,evaluation, response, and monitoring. It integrates statistical fire data and forensiclaboratory findings, applying engineering methods for estimating initiating eventfrequencies and scenario risk calculations. Based on engineering principles of riskassessment, the framework employs Layer of Protection Analysis (LOPA), encompassing theidentification of hazards, calculation of initiating event frequencies, evaluation of protectionlayers, and risk categorization. A practical application was conducted using a sample oflighting systems, where the most frequent failure causes such as overheating, arcing, andoverload were analyzed. The probability of fire occurrence was then calculated and found tofall within a medium-risk range. Accordingly, the framework was applied to formulateappropriate control strategies for this specific fire type, supporting the creation of new firesafety regulations and improving residential fire risk management in Oman.