An amendment to hold some property owners liable for safety standard contraventions that lead to the deaths of first responders yesterday passed an initial review by the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee.
The bill to update the Fire Services Act (消防法) — drafted in response to a deadly industrial blaze that last year killed 10 firefighters and wounded nearly 100 others in Pingtung County — next heads to the legislative chamber for debate.
The draft stipulates that the registered administrators of industrial facilities must ensure that fire safety regulations are met or face penalties including imprisonment should their negligence result in deaths.
Photo: Lee Wen-hsin, Taipei Times
Site administrators would be required to have personnel ready to brief firefighters on potential hazards or be fined NT$500,000 to NT$10 million (US$15,610 to US$312,198), the bill says.
Administrators of large factories, industrial storage facilities or laboratories would be required to provide firefighters maps, an inventory of chemicals stored on site and other necessary information, it says.
The information must be uploaded to an online platform and presented to firefighters in person in the event of a fire, it says.
The definition of “large” has not yet been determined by lawmakers or regulators.
Failure to provide maps and other information would result in a NT$50,000 to NT$3 million fine, while failure to provide an inventory of chemicals on site would result in a NT$100,000 to NT$5 million fine.
Administrators who did not prepare an emergency fire plan or implement it would be imprisoned for up to seven years should their failure lead to deaths, the draft says.
Whistle-blowers who inform the authorities of fire safety contraventions would be eligible for a monetary reward, as long as they worked in or around the site’s premises, and the reward should be a percentage of fines, it said.
The amendment would authorize the government to nullify any decision on part of the employer to fire, demote or transfer the whistle-blower.
The legal person in charge of a site who neglected necessary fire safety measures in large buildings or facilities storing a certain quantity of hazardous materials would be fined NT$20,000 to NT$300,000, it said.
The bill states that national and local fire services must create consultative committees that include firefighters to advise officials on matters concerning operational procedures.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Taiwan yesterday issued warnings to four Chinese coast guard vessels that intruded into restricted waters around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, according to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA). The four China Coast Guard ships were detected approaching restricted waters south of Kinmen at around 2 pm yesterday, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu Branch said in a statement. The CGA said it immediately deployed four patrol boats to closely monitor the situation. When the Chinese ships with the hull numbers "14512," "14609," "14603" and "14602" separately entered the restricted waters off Fuhsing islet (復興嶼), Zhaishan (翟山), Sinhu (新湖) and Liaoluo (料羅) at 3 pm, the Taiwanese patrol
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56