http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20120208-326557.html
Lesser fire hazard notices issued
AsiaOne
Wednesday, Feb 08, 2012
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) issued lesser fire hazard notices last year, compared to 2010. This is despite the increase in number of fire safety checks conducted.
Out of 11,983 fire safety enforcement checks conducted by the SCDF between January and December 2011, a total of 2,632 fire hazard abatement notices were issued.
This is a decrease of 12.8 per cent from the 3,017 notices issued in 2010, said the SCDF in a statement today.
Obstruction to exits and fire engine accessways are the most common reasons in which fire hazard notices were issued.
The SCDF conducts checks on a regular basis to ensure that fire safety standards are well-observed and fire hazards are detected and rectified.
Fire hazard abatement notices serve as a warning to building owners and management to remove any fire hazard present in the premise.
SCDF said that the lower number of notices issued could be attributed to the efforts of building owners and fire safety managers in identifying and removing potential fire hazards, thus resulting in lesser number of violations detected.
The number of Notice of Fire Safety Offence (NFSO) issued has also seen a slight decrease of 0.9 per cent in 2011.
NFSOs are issued when unauthorised fire safety works are carried out, and when the contravention is of a serious nature and warrants a heavier penalty.
The main contributing factor for NFSOs are the unauthorised changes of use of premises.
On Oct 1, 2011, a company was fined a total of $4,000 for two counts of fire safety infringements related to change of use without approval.
The company had illegally converted the internal driveway area and part of the first storey of the industrial premises at 20 Benoi Crescent to workers' dormitories.
The illegal workers' dormitories did not possess the required additional fire safety measures needed for the change of usage and thus posed a fire risk to the occupants residing within the premises.
SCDF said that it takes violations of fire safety requirements seriously and will not hesitate to take firm actions against building management who do not promptly take action to rectify fire safety violations despite warnings and fines.
Offenders in serious cases could be taken to court.
For general fire safety violations, the maximum penalty can be up to $10,000 and/or a jail term not exceeding 6 months.
For carrying out unauthorised fire safety works, the building management can be fined up to $50,000 and/or jailed for a term not exceeding 12 months.
[email protected]
Lesser fire hazard notices issued
AsiaOne
Wednesday, Feb 08, 2012
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) issued lesser fire hazard notices last year, compared to 2010. This is despite the increase in number of fire safety checks conducted.
Out of 11,983 fire safety enforcement checks conducted by the SCDF between January and December 2011, a total of 2,632 fire hazard abatement notices were issued.
This is a decrease of 12.8 per cent from the 3,017 notices issued in 2010, said the SCDF in a statement today.
Obstruction to exits and fire engine accessways are the most common reasons in which fire hazard notices were issued.
The SCDF conducts checks on a regular basis to ensure that fire safety standards are well-observed and fire hazards are detected and rectified.
Fire hazard abatement notices serve as a warning to building owners and management to remove any fire hazard present in the premise.
SCDF said that the lower number of notices issued could be attributed to the efforts of building owners and fire safety managers in identifying and removing potential fire hazards, thus resulting in lesser number of violations detected.
The number of Notice of Fire Safety Offence (NFSO) issued has also seen a slight decrease of 0.9 per cent in 2011.
NFSOs are issued when unauthorised fire safety works are carried out, and when the contravention is of a serious nature and warrants a heavier penalty.
The main contributing factor for NFSOs are the unauthorised changes of use of premises.
On Oct 1, 2011, a company was fined a total of $4,000 for two counts of fire safety infringements related to change of use without approval.
The company had illegally converted the internal driveway area and part of the first storey of the industrial premises at 20 Benoi Crescent to workers' dormitories.
The illegal workers' dormitories did not possess the required additional fire safety measures needed for the change of usage and thus posed a fire risk to the occupants residing within the premises.
SCDF said that it takes violations of fire safety requirements seriously and will not hesitate to take firm actions against building management who do not promptly take action to rectify fire safety violations despite warnings and fines.
Offenders in serious cases could be taken to court.
For general fire safety violations, the maximum penalty can be up to $10,000 and/or a jail term not exceeding 6 months.
For carrying out unauthorised fire safety works, the building management can be fined up to $50,000 and/or jailed for a term not exceeding 12 months.
[email protected]
