Bosses blamed for fire tragedy

Bosses blamed for fire tragedy

BANDUNG (JP): West Java Governor R. Nuriana says he will summon the management of the Ramayana Department Store over the fire safety system used in the building.

"The management must take responsibility for the tragedy," he said here after receiving an official project list from Minister of Health Suyudi yesterday.

He called on businessmen to pay more attention to workplace safety for their employees. "Human safety must come first," he said.

Public buildings must be equipped with adequate fire safety devices, he said. "The number of hydrants around the building must also be sufficient and they must have water."

He said his office would take the necessary steps after the final report from the fire investigation team was available.

He said his office has set up a special team to probe the fire, which according to the latest official count killed at least 10 people. Forensic teams from the National Police and Army are involved in the probe.

In a related development, architects said that any structures of one or more stories in height must have more than one exit with clear signs to enable people to escape in case of emergencies.

Boy Birawa, a Jakarta-based architect, said that safety factors, including emergency exits, were usually made clear on the drawings submitted by developers or architects when applying for building permits. "But, the construction of the buildings is another story as the officials who sign the building permits do not supervise the construction," he said. "The building owners usually want only one emergency exit for financial reasons after the building permit is in hand."

"According to the general rules, an exit and a stairway is to be constructed for every 30-meter segment of a building," Boy said.

"I'm sure the Pasar Kebon Kembang market building lacked the above safety system. Many shop buildings are prone to fire," he said.

In a separate interview, the Director General of Industrial Relations and Labor Standards at the Ministry of Manpower, Suwarto, told Antara yesterday that the Ramayana Bogor fire indicated that public awareness of the need for workplace safety is still poor.

"When constructing multi-story structures people tend to forget the importance of emergency exits," Suwarto said.

He said there were strong indications that the Ramayana Department Store at the Pasar Kebon Kembang market in Bogor which was swept by fire on Thursday was not equipped with fire safety devices, such as emergency stairs, smoke detectors, fire alarms, and extinguishers. (17/bas/sur/yns)