Bangladesh, the new Asian Tiger, has proved to become one of Asia’s most remarkable economies with phenomenal economic progress in the last ten years. It has also been attracting a large amount of Foreign Direct Investment worldwide. More industrialization proves there is ample scope for growth in the safety and security sector of the country. Fire safety has become an integral part of our economy’s progress. After the Rana Plaza incident, most of our export-oriented businesses, especially our readymade garments industries, have adopted fire safety measures in their respective premises.
Fire safety is crucial for any business and ensuring it should be of the utmost importance for any entrepreneur as it not only protects the business but also human lives, properties, and other things involved in it. So a proper fire safety plan is paramount.
The most important aspect that we realize after a fire accident is that it could have been prevented. Therefore, fire safety reduces the risk of injury and building damage that fires can cause. Developing and implementing fire safety protocols in the workplace is not only required by law but is crucial to the safety of everyone that may be in the building during a fire emergency. The importance of fire safety in the workplace is easily overlooked. If one looks around a workplace, we can easily see materials that will quickly ignite a fire, so therefore fire safety must be discussed.
Usually, fires need three things to start – a source of ignition (heat) such as heaters, lighting, naked flames, electrical equipment, smokers’ materials (cigarettes, matches, etc.), and anything else that can get very hot or cause sparks, a source of fuel (something that burns) which include wood, paper, plastic, rubber or foam, loose packaging materials, waste rubbish, and furniture and oxygen. So, each firm needs to educate its respective employees on these ingredients and hazards, as a result, hazards become more easily visible around the workplace and are more likely to be handled carefully, reducing the overall risk of fire.
Another important measure is to devise a fire prevention plan. This prevention plan will provide a specific description of each employee’s responsibilities in identifying combustible materials, existing fire hazards, and heat-producing equipment. Therefore, we can see Fire safety preparation, education, and prevention is a small price to pay versus the alternative losses that fire can bring. Organizations with proper fire safety precautions operate more effectively and financially, as reducing warehouse material losses and employee absences contribute to the creation of a safe and successful environment.
In addition to a fire prevention plan, an emergency response team from among the employees and management team needs to be prepared as it is critical in leading and directing other employees to safety. A fire emergency response team is a group of individuals each with an understanding of emergency procedures, fire safety, and the evacuation plan. Each team member has a protocol to follow in case of a fire emergency and understands their roles and duties necessary to get everybody to safety.
Proper housekeeping techniques, maintaining emergency and exit lighting, and enlisting the help of a licensed and certified fire protection company are all part of preventative maintenance. Fire mock drills and an annual fire audit should be made mandatory for all organizations. As we have seen, there are expired fire equipment or fire products that are not up to the mark, or hose pipes are just there for show and have not been useful during an incident.
Though many reforms have been taken to reduce fire hazards but still the number of fire incidents in Bangladesh has increased four times over the last two decades as the country’s urban areas are expanding without basic infrastructure like an increase in the number of fire stations compared to high-rise buildings. Urban experts attributed the rise in fire incidents to unplanned urbanization, the violation of rules for constructing buildings, a pervasive culture of non-enforcement of the law, carelessness of people, increased use of gas cylinders and different electronic devices, and lack of supervision by the authorities concerned. From the recent data provided by Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence, most fire incidents have occurred due to electric short-circuit in urban areas as most buildings are not constructed maintaining the building code. So, this remains the main challenge for us, so enforcing the building code should be made mandatory. The Bangladeshi industry also suffers from a lack of fire safety requirements and chronic deficiencies such as safety problems including locked or blocked fire escapes and malfunctioning fire-fighting equipment as we have seen from the recent fire cases in the city.
Bangladesh is however moving in the right direction, automatic fire extinguishers are being placed in small and medium enterprises, also fireballs are becoming increasingly popular these days as they explode in a fire and extinguish it. Emergency exits are being created in most newly constructed buildings and various reforms have been taken from the government and international organizations to reduce these unwanted hazards. So, it proves how people around us are adopting fire safety measures and also overcoming the misconception that fire equipment is highly expensive.
Zakir Uddin Ahmed is the Joint Secretary General at the Electronics Safety and Security Association of Bangladesh (ESSAB)
