Fire safety measures
Photo: STAR
The DS-IBA round-table on the matter, published by you on April 1 is quite welcome. It is good that public awareness about fire hazard is increasing after the recent Bashundhara fire. About the recommendations of the round table, I would like to add a few ideas which can be introduced by the government to increase protection against fire disasters. To increase frequency of inspection and training, traffic police officials of the rank of sub-inspectors and above, should be trained on Fire Safety and Fire Protection rules and regulations along with basic fire fighting skills. They should then have a regular programme of inspecting all buildings where about 100 people reside or work or go for shopping and recreation. The programme should be on a surprise basis on a working day, carried out say once half yearly. Their findings should be recorded in a Fire Safety Inspection Register to be maintained at the premises; duly signed and dated and sealed. This register must be readily available on site; failure of which will result in an official call to the police station, and the owner or his or her representative duly fined a sum of say Tk.1000 in the first instance. For a repeat offence, the fine will be doubled! Such visits should be more instructive to begin with and all possible suggestions recorded in the register. Subsequently, this should be corrective, and if needed punitive! An incentive be paid at Tk.500 per visit by the owner, and this must be duly recorded and signed and sealed by the person inspecting the register. Any building, residential, commercial or offices; irrespective of the number of floors; must have an emergency stair--way in addition to the normal one which has a floor area of over 3500 sq. ft. in any one floor. This is an addition from what may be stated in Fire Safety Rules. In high rises, having more than three lifts installed; every fourth lift must have battery operation provision capable of operating on batteries for at least one hour minimum. The lift in case of power or battery failure, should go down to the ground floor and the door open, and remain so automatically. All public buildings should have portable masks and backpack type portable air cylinders for resuscitation of smoke inhalation. The number of these must cover minimum five percent of the people occupying the whole building at any time. This must be easily available in the ground floor. The security staff there must be trained in proper operation of these breathing apparatus.
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