Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The authorities of private shopping malls in the capital are ignoring the fire protection issues at their establishments as ensuring fire safety on floors requires huge investment.
Even they are running the malls and shopping centers without the essential certification and fire sprinkle system and routine inspections, raising concerns about the safety of shoppers, employees, properties and merchandises.
“Our safety inspections in such establishments found improper documentation of fire operations and engineering checks done on the ground, indicating safety on floors may have been compromised,” a senior Fire Service and Civil Defese (FSCD) official told The New Nation yesterday, requesting not to be named.
He said most of the city’s commercial buildings and shopping malls are running their operation ignoring fire safety issues. The owners of these buildings have failed to take reasonable steps to reduce the risk from fire and make sure people can safely escape if there is a fire.
“The fire safety installations should be designed there in line with the set codes. But in reality, the buildings are suffering from serious gaps in safety procedure due to improper inspection and safety system and shortage in qualified staffs to ensure standards in services to fire safety,” he noted.
When asked, the FSCD official said, “Our primary obligation of conducting the safety inspection to the shopping malls most of the time. In fact, the department (FSCD) is so short-staffed that it cannot complete inspection and fire demonstration of all the buildings time to time.”
Shopping malls in the capital are prone to safety hazards, admits the FSCD official, saying that ensuring fire safety on their floors remains a big challenge because owners of these buildings are not sincere about the safety responsibilities.
Admitting the safety flaws in the Basundhara City Shopping Complex, he said, it is facing frequent fire incidents due to absence of routine maintenance at critical facilities, inadequate fire safety equipments and staffs and regular fire drills.
