Owners of older buildings urged to comply with life-saving fire regulations

By PRATCH RUJIVANAROM 
THE NATION

 

File photo

 

Expert says Bangkok tragedy could have been avoided with an alarm system.

 

OWNERS OF older buildings have been urged to improve their fire protection systems to meet current standards, as many do not comply with life-saving regulations.

 

After the recent fire at an apartment building in Bangkok’s Phya Thai district – where three people were killed and many others injured – experts from the Engineering Institute of Thailand (EIT) yesterday urged the owners of older buildings to install all required fire-protection systems and encouraged residents to be aware of safety methods and equipment.

 

 

EIT president Thanes Weerasiri said recent fire disasters showed that older buildings, which were built before the enforcement of the earliest building control regulations in 1992, had a higher risk of fire because they were not required to install fire protection systems when they were built.

 

“The tragic fire last week at an apartment building in Phya Thai district proves that fire in old buildings can be very severe and fatal due to many weaknesses in the fire prevention systems of these buildings, even though there is already retrospective regulation that requires old buildings to improve their fire protection,” Thanes said.

 

“This is a big lesson for everybody, that even though we have the law to prevent fire disasters, such a tragedy still occurs due to inefficient law enforcement. Society must have more awareness on this issue and make sure that all buildings are installed with minimum fire protection standards.”

 

Busakorn Saensookh, chairperson of EIT’s safety engineering committee, said that the loss of lives in last week’s tragedy could have easily been avoided if the apartment had been equipped with a fire alarm, as many people were sleeping when the fire broke out in the middle of the night.

 

Busakorn said it was very important for all fire protection systems to be inspected on all buildings, especially residential buildings that have more chance of casualties. The first regulation on fire protection systems in new buildings was passed in 1992 and called for new tall and large buildings to have minimum fire protection systems installed. Subsequent ministerial regulations in 1994, 1997, 2000 and 2005 made the building control rules on fire protection stronger.

 

Regulations in 1997 required all buildings, regardless of year of construction, to be equipped with a minimum of six fire protection systems, including an emergency stairwell fire escape route, a fire alarm system and lights and signs indicating the fire escape route. Thanes said that EIT had made suggestions to the government to let building owners willingly comply with the fire protection regulations but there has not been any feedback on the suggestions yet.

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30342940

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-04-11

Retrofitting fire protection systems is extremely expensive and in many cases cannot be completed to a given standard. Agree a good operating fire alarm system is a must but I can show you many instances in modern buildings including departmental stores that are either poorly installed or not maintained. 

Good luck with that. " Insufficient law enforcement" says it all and covers an enormous part of the problems in every sector of Thailand.

Urged - just tell, no fire protection, condemn the building, but TIT - pussy-foot around the problem as usual. 

Profit is top priority here, spending on maintenance or safety improvements hit the bottom line. Without legislation and enforcement, nothing will change, just hand wringing and waiing at the next tragedy.

Urge to install life saving measures. Should read Govt orders them to do it to the best standard they can achieve or their LICENCE to OPERATE is withdrawn. And fines of 100k to 1 mill will be imposed and the Govt will upgrade at the owners expense. !!

We all saw how well that worked for Trump.

5 hours ago, webfact said:

OWNERS OF older buildings have been urged to improve their fire protection systems to meet current standards

 

There. They've been urged, so we don't need to actually enforce anything. Up to them if they comply or not.

Perfectly Thai. Speak and do nothing. Job done.

40 minutes ago, Artisi said:

Urged - just tell, no fire protection, condemn the building, but TIT - pussy-foot around the problem as usual. 

In more developed countries owners are forced to install all necessary equipment, inspected by the authorities before any tenant moves in. 

Edited April 11, 20188 yr by Lupatria

Urge All you want,, Make it a Law,,, Who is going to Police it?