A fire protection expert on Saturday urged the government to raise the standards for fire safety equipment in buildings, after a devastating fire killed 46 people in a combined commercial and residential building in Kaohsiung on Oct. 14.
Kaohsiung City Fire Protection Professional Engineers’ Association director-general Yan Shun-fu (嚴順福) said that he was greatly concerned that the implementation of a fire-safety equipment inspection law had already been put off for 26 years.
The fire at the Cheng Chung Cheng (城中城) building should serve as a wake-up call to the government to protect people’s lives and property, he said.
Photo: CNA
“There is no administrative committee that would have overseen safety issues at the Cheng Chung Cheng building. The Ministry of the Interior has proposed a draft bill to address the issue, but forming such committees would not be a cure-all for fire-safety,” he said.
Public safety must be addressed by professionals who are properly trained and qualified to inspect buildings, he said, adding that experts tasked with the job should be held accountable for their conduct and their licenses should be revoked in cases of negligence.
Article 8 of the Fire Services Act (消防法) stipulates that fire-protection equipment engineers and technicians must be certified, but certified individuals are not required to join any organization that would supervise their work, he said.
“Under the current law, a negligent inspector would only be subject to a fine, which they could pay and keep operating,” he said.
Building safety inspections are reviewed by the Taiwan Architects Association, which conducts reviews and is responsible for administrative oversight of inspections, he said.
However, fire-safety inspections are the responsibility of the local fire departments in each county and municipality, he said.
“They are supposed to review all inspections, but they are generally understaffed. In Taipei, they only have about 300 people, who are required to review fire safety at several hundred thousand buildings,” he said.
The root of the problem is incomplete regulations and distribution of responsibility, Yan said.
“When an incident occurs, the government seeks to place blame on somebody, but does not do anything to improve the system,” he said.
The government vowed to focus on fire safety after a blaze at Taichung’s Weierkang Club in 1995 killed 64 people, but has since failed to improve the regulations, he said.
“Twenty-six years later we have another 46 lives lost in a major fire that could have been prevented. The government must take action to ensure fire safety is handled professionally,” he said. “Do not gamble on luck when it comes to people’s lives.”
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