News
Fire safety regulations under intense fire
Outdated fire safety regulations mean many multi-storey buildings in the country; offices, condominiums and apartments among them, may become potential death traps in the event of a major fire, a Sunday Times investigation has found.
Prior to being approved for occupation, owners of any building have to obtain a ‘Certificate of Conformity’ from the local government authority in the respective areas that it is situated. For commercial establishments, this also requires a fire safety assessment by the local fire brigade. Once the Fire Department gives the all-clear to the planning commission of the local authority, the certificate is awarded and people can move in. The hitch comes afterwards.
If the building involved is classified as a business, the owners need to obtain a trading licence that has to be renewed on a yearly basis. This includes a review of fire safety measures. Owners of other commercial buildings though, can effectively ignore fire safety regulations entirely after receiving the certificate. There is no legal provision to conduct routine inspections to ensure that such regulations are being adhered to.
Group Captain (Rtd.) Kolitha Sri Nissanka does not mince his words: “In this country, we are yet to see a major fire disaster where people are jumping from windows of a high-rise building. But the way things are going, it will happen,” he warns, commenting on the dangers of not having a proper monitoring mechanism for fire safety regulations. Grp. Capt. Nissanka, formerly of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) oversaw the Colombo Municipal Council’s (CMC) Fire Brigade from 1996 to 2001 after it was brought under the control of the Ministry of Defence using Emergency Regulations. According to him, the then Government took the step after it deemed that the fire brigade had been ill-prepared and ill-equipped to respond to the carnage at the Central Bank Bomb blast in 1996.
Fire brigades respond to fire emergencies. Preventing fires from erupting and having fire safety measures in place is an entirely different matter; one which has received scant attention for years, those who have experience in the fire service charge.
The Construction Industry Development Authority (CIDA), under the Ministry of Housing and Construction, is the body tasked with devising fire safety regulations for buildings. These regulations however, haven’t been updated since 2004. Colombo’s skyline especially, has been dotted by many more high-rise buildings in the 12 years since regulations were last updated. Meanwhile, the construction industry itself has undergone many changes.
A committee appointed to bring long overdue revisions to update the regulations has now almost finished its report. These regulations are expected to be introduced early next year.
Grp. Capt. Nissanka, who is part of this committee, explained it was taking into account changes that may happen in the industry during the next five years when formulating the new regulations.
The committee is looking at introducing regulations to make it mandatory to have a yearly fire safety inspection for all buildings. This can be done by an authority having jurisdiction, either the fire brigade or a qualified fire safety expert.
Even with the new regulations, one cannot make structural changes to existing buildings, Grp. Capt. Nissanka concedes. However, the new regulations have to be complied with when an existing building undergoes renovations, meaning authorities can insist on changes.
CIDA divides buildings into four categories: Those that are 18 metres or below are classed as ‘low-rise,’ ones between 18-30 metres are known as ‘medium-rise’ buildings while those between 30-45 metres are categorised as ‘high-rise’ buildings. High-rises that are taller than 45 metres fall into the ‘super high-rise’ category.
The regulations are particular about buildings that are 30 metres high. This is due to the limitations that fire brigades face as the buildings become taller. The taller the building gets more fire safety systems need to be built into it. “For example, buildings over 30 metres must have a fire sprinkler system, which is essentially a lifesaving system,” Grp. Capt. Nissanka observes.
A fire protection company would only give a maximum two year guarantee for its fire protection system, J. Kannangara, former CMC Chief Fire Officer and current independent fire consultant, reveals. “After that, if the client chooses not to sign any maintenance agreement with the company, they would never come to carry out maintenance of the system.” This means that fire protection systems in many buildings may only be partially functional or completely broken. There’s just no way to know.
According to Grp. Capt. Nissanka, the owner of a building would only need to spend about 3 to 5 percent of the total cost of the building to instal a good fire protection system. “How is that an unreasonable amount?”
Fire safety has several components. There has to be an initial fire detection system. Additionally, there should also be a system in place to alert those in the building to evacuate.
The former SLAF officer notes that there is no such thing as a large fire. “Every fire starts off with a small incident such as a spark. More often than not, you can extinguish it easily with a fire extinguisher if you are alerted quickly.” This highlights a major flaw that many don’t take into account. Fire extinguishers may provide a sense of safety, “But if people aren’t trained to use them, they’ll be useless. People won’t have the confidence to use them without any training. In many countries, even children learn how to use a fire extinguisher. This has to be inculcated onto the people.”
It is up to the management of these buildings to ensure that the occupants undergo basic fire safety training and fire drills, he insists.
He further laments about the low priority people give to fire safety. “Every time I do a lecture, I ask the participants to give me the emergency number for the fire brigade. A majority have no idea. This is our negligence. But ask them the number for a taxi service and they’ll remember all 10 digits.”
This negligence extends to branches of the Government service too. Some years ago, when Jayaweera Madigasekera was still with the Fire Service Department, he and some colleagues went to conduct a routine inspection on fire safety procedures of local authorities. He remembers arriving at a local government authority in the Uva Province and switching on its fire alarm unannounced to see how quickly people would evacuate the building. However what they witnessed was the opposite of what they expected; instead of evacuating, even employees who were outside the building were hurrying in. Upon making inquiries, they had found that the fire alarm was being used as a bell to convene meetings of the local authority. “That’s just one example. There were other places where it was being used as the lunch bell,” he quips.
He is now an independent fire consultant and President of the Institution of Fire Engineers (Sri Lanka) Branch and agrees that continued neglect will surely end in a major disaster in the not too distant future.
When it comes to fire safety precautions in condominiums, the responsibility falls on the Management Committee of each condominium. “The degree to which fire safety is taken seriously depends on the individuals in these management committees,” Grp. Captain Nissanka states. “If there are concerned individuals, it will be given a priority. If not, it can be neglected.”
A person buying a condominium should consider the options they have if a fire were to break out, he adds. “For example, if your mother is on the 30th floor, are there provisions for her to come down in case of fire? Where are the fire escapes? You have to do a self-assessment.”
These issues don’t mean people should be scared of living or working in high-rise buildings, he argues. It’s simply that safety is something that must always be taken seriously.
Fire safety has never really been given enough priority in the country, says Nihal Rupasinghe Secretary to the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development. Mr. Rupasinghe, who is an engineer by profession, points out that most fires in Sri Lanka occur due to electrical faults, primarily due to poor wiring standards. But people also contribute to such fires even without thinking, he observes. “Even leaving your computer plugged on for hours without turning off the switch can sometimes cause a spark that may lead to a fire,” he points out.
When it comes to buildings, the Secretary believes people are reluctant to take on the extra cost of maintaining a good fire safety system on the completely illogical belief that “it just couldn’t happen to me.”
“This attitude has to change and I see no other option than to impose this through the law,” he opines. Accordingly, more attention towards fire safety has been directed in the draft Megapolis and Regulations and Guidelines. These will strengthen the existing regulations and guidelines of the Urban Development Authority (UDA), Mr. Rupasinghe elaborates. This draft document is currently being discussed among professionals.
Even once more regulations are introduced and legal powers accorded, it will not be a concrete solution unless ordinary people also become aware and take the issue seriously, experts add.
It’s never just one person. “It has to be the work of a community of people: Fire brigades, consultants, developers, owners and occupants of buildings all have to play a part,” Grp. Captain Nissanka observes.