Municipality fails to enforce fire safety regulations

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration has admitted that it has failed to supervise the enforcement of a regulation on fire safety systems in public establishments.

An official of the city public order, Toha Reno, said yesterday that weak supervision is one factor which has allowed many public places such as nightspots, industrial sites and shopping malls to operate without adequate fire safety equipment.

"The office cannot supervise this on a regular basis because we don't have the personnel to do so," he said.

Toha admitted that due to lax control many public places lack adequate fire safety devices, although the city public order office does grant permits based on the disturbance regulation.

According to the regulation all public establishments should obtain the permit, which also contains requirements for establishments to install adequate fire safety systems.

A permit must be obtained before an establishment is allowed to operate and after an inspection by officials from the city public order office, who check whether the establishment has complied with the regulation.

"We have only 655 personnel, while there are about 3,000 entertainment establishments and about 600 high-rise buildings in the city," Toha said.

On the other hand, he added, most of his personnel have no expertise in matters related to fire safety, so it is impossible to conduct inspections effectively.

When asked whether the real reason for the office's failure to enforce the regulation was because it assumed the buildings were equipped with various fire safety devices since building usage permits had been secured, Toha did not give a clear answer.

"There is a possibility because all applicants should obtain the usage permits issued by the City Development Supervision agency," he said.

A building usage permit is issued by the agency after a company fulfills all the necessary requirements, including the installation of fire equipment.

However, Toha also blamed the managements of those places for failing to obey the regulation.

Early this week, the city public order office, the city tourism agency and the city fire brigade inspected several public establishments and discovered that most of them had inadequate fire safety devices.

The buildings lacked emergency exits and most of the companies had not trained their employees for fire drills.

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja has ordered his subordinates to inspect fire safety systems in all public establishments in Jakarta following the fire that destroyed Pasar Kebon Kembang market in Bogor. The fire that swept through the market late last month claimed 10 lives. (yns)

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