Objective To assess the fire and explosion risks in the pearl cotton manufacturing process and to identify the main disaster-causing factors in pearl cotton production enterprises, providing a scientific basis for formulating effective risk control measures.

Methods Through on-site investigations of three pearl cotton manufacturing enterprises and analysis of similar incidents, combined with the literature review, systematic analysis, and expert consultations, fire risks in pearl cotton production enterprises were identified. Fault tree analysis was used to analyze the causes of fire and explosion incidents, and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed to determine the criteria and index layers for preventing fire and explosion accidents, with weights assigned to each index for evaluation.

Results Analysis of the production process and physicochemical properties of pearl cotton revealed that the accumulation of continuously emitted butane gas during production and storage is a key factor contributing to fire risk. Fault tree analysis showed that poor ventilation had the greatest impact on the occurrence of fire incidents, followed by inadequate safety management and butane gas leakage caused by evaporation or equipment failure. In the AHP criteria layer, the primary indicators were "safety facilities, " "safety management, " and "infrastructure, " with weight coefficients of 0.624, 0.239, and 0.137, respectively. In the index layer, secondary indicators included "fire protection system, " "emergency ventilation system, " "hot work approval, " "anti-static system, " and "gas monitoring system" with weight coefficients of 0.218, 0.172, 0.139, 0.135, and 0.099, respectively. Improving safety facilities, particularly fire protection systems and emergency ventilation systems, can effectively prevent accidents.

Conclusions The mutual verification of the risk assessment results based on fault tree analysis and the Analytic Hierarchy Process indicated that poor ventilation had the greatest impact on the occurrence of fire and explosion incidents, with inadequate safety management being another important risk factor. Safety facilities play a critical role in accident prevention. Measures such as improving ventilation systems, strictly controlling open flames, and strengthening safety management are proposed to prevent similar incidents.