SCDF to step up inspections to reduce fire outbreaks
SINGAPORE: The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) will be
increasing inspections on commercial buildings to check for fire safety
violations.
Offenders flouting fire safety requirements may be fined up to S$10,000 or sentenced to jail not exceeding six months, or both.
Owners and management of public buildings, places of recreation and
entertainment, including hotels and shopping centres, are urged to
ensure compliance.
This will help keep such premises safe for shoppers during the year-end festive season.
Escape passageways should be free of obstruction and fire exit doors kept unlocked for use during emergencies.
Overcrowding, especially in public entertainment outlets such as
discotheques and pubs, should also be avoided to prevent a stampede
situation, if evacuation is required.
More fire safety tips are available online at www.nfec.gov.sg and www.scdf.gov.sg.
- CNA/so
SCDF smokes out fire hazards
The Singapore Civil Defence Force says, more than 100 shopping centres, hotels and entertainment outlets were served with warning notices for violating fire safety standards between January and October this year.
These Fire Hazard Abatement Notices are handed out to first time offenders.
SCDF says, this year's figure is more than double the number of violators warned within the same period in 2007.
This is due to a rise in the number of calls and feedback it received from civic-minded Singaporeans, who helped it pinpoint the offenders.
Shaffiq Alkhatib accompanied a team of SCDF as well as police officers last night as they conducted their checks on five such outlets.
Clarke Quay was bustling with merry-makers as they let their hair down at the start of the weekend.
But it's business as usual for the team of about 20 officers as they entered Le Noir, a busy watering hole, to conduct their checks.
While it's the SCDF officers' duty to sniff out fire hazards, personnel from the police force are tasked to check other areas such as the outlet's operating licenses as well as general law and order.
The check at Le Noir was not an exercise in futility.
Police arrested a 17-year old trainee waitress who allegedly worked there without a proper permit.
SCDF also handed the club a warning notice for blocking a fire exit door.
Major Azmi Adam, the force's Head of Enforcement highlights some of the common violations to fire safety.
"Some of the common violations found in these premises include obstruction to escape routes, locking of exit doors, faulty exit signs and overcrowding of premises."
The officers also visited four other places in the Orchard Road area.
One of them, Robinson's Departmental Store in Centrepoint received three warning notices, mainly for failure to maintain clutter-free passageways.
Another venue, Holiday Inn Park View Hotel, was similarly warned for storing items in a stairwell.
Offenders usually have up to one week to rectify their errors.
They may be fined between $300 and $500 should they fail to do so.
Recalcitrant offenders will be hauled to court, says Major Azmi.
If convicted, they may be fined up to $10,000, jailed a maximum of six months or both.
--938Live