A couple of days ago I said "What is it with Dubai and fires" when I posted on the Naif Souk inferno.
Since then there's been another major fire, this one in an Al Quoz warehouse - again. There won't be any warehouses left if this continues.
Just imagine what was in the air from this one...
"Some 45 firemen battled for over two hours to save lives and material at two warehouses that stored chemicals, paints and thinners."
Two people were injured in this latest fire, one with severe burns.
Our outspoken Police Chief had this to say:
"...warehouses such as the ones that recently caught fire do not meet safety standards and are hardly inspected." Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim said: "I see that inspections of such establishments are rare. Procedures are only carried out during the licensing process and after that there is no monitoring."
That what's behind many of our avoidable problems. Laws, rules and regulations are in place but they're not enforced.
Fire story here and Lt Gen Tamim's comments are here.
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5 comments:
I've seen enough of Dahi's comments over the years to realise that the man cannot separate his personal opinions from what is the law, and his complacency and holier-than-thou attitude is dangerous in a man in his position.
The man should be removed. He does more harm and causes more grief than he does any good.
His attitude must surely reflect in his officers.
He must be way up someone's rear orifice to retain his position. A police chief making his (often derogatory) comments should be removed.
I think he talks a lot of sense, the problem is that the police are guilty too of the thing he criticises in others - not enforcing the laws as they should.
I used to work in Al Quoz and I always said it was a dosaster waiting to happen.
Furniture factories with open vats of lacquers, paints and other flammables. People strolling past smoking and discarding lighted butts anywhere.
Caustic cement factory materials spilt everywhere.
Little firefighting equipment and I saw nor took part in a single fire drill in the 18 months I worked there.
My 'office', and I use the term lightly, was a warehouse converted into a two-storey building with no fire escape, only one staircase which led into the ground floor, not to the outside. Any fire downstairs and the people above would have been fried because the few windows that were there could not be opened.
All buildings in my home country have to pass fire department inspection before they can be opened for use. Then they are subjected to regular inspections to ensure safety standards are maintained, chemicals are stored correctly, firedrills are carried out and logged and that they have the requisite insurance cover for both private and public liability.
Does anyone know if anything similar is supposed to happen here? If it is, why is it therefore clearly not being done resulting in needless loss of life, property and business?
anon yes, there are fire and safety regulations and yes, premises are supposed to be inspected.
Some companies follow the rules, most don't.
What you're saying confirms what many of us observe, and it supports Lt Gen Dahi's criticism.
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