‘I don’t think private depots properly comply with the fire safety guidelines’
The Business Standard spoke to former Department of Fire Service and Civil Defence Director General Brigadier General (retd.) Ali Ahmed Khan to get his immediate reaction to the Sitakunda fire incident and the overall fire safety situation in the country
The fire at the container depot in Sitakunda killed at least 49 people, including firefighters, as of this writing.
This is the first time Bangladesh witnessed such a massive container blast at its seaport.
What do you make of the Sitakundu's fire incident?
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It is a very serious incident. But the good news is the number of casualties is lower than it could have been. Hydrogen peroxide is not only highly flammable, it is also a dangerous chemical.
Very frankly, though there are some guidelines for handling such chemicals, it is not complied with. There are some codes for handling, transporting and storing this kind of highly flammable chemicals. It is evident that that is not done properly.
The labourers also do not know how to handle these kinds of hazardous chemicals.
One explanation might be that as the temperature was high, it caused this accident.
I think it is a huge blow for our industrial sector. The port authority maintains chemicals very carefully. They have professional people. But I think the private depots do not properly comply with the fire safety guidelines. And there is no regulatory body to see whether they comply or not.
What we see unfolding before our eyes is the firefighters rushing to the spot and trying their level best to control the fire. There should be a database on the storage and transportation of hazardous chemicals. The authority should inform the fire service authority about the chemicals.
But I think there is a gap between them.
There is a code or standardised policy for handling chemicals. When there is a deviation from the policy, or we do not comply with the code, this kind of accident happens.
There should be a concrete wall around the chemical containers. If any accident occurs, [in that case], the scale of damage will be lower. The container should not have been kept in the open space. The depot authority should not have kept it at a high temperature. While sorting the containers, they should have addressed this.
I think there was no internal fire fighting system at the depot. It will come out after the investigation. When the Department of Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) were called in, they started to bring the fire under control. The firefighters had little knowledge of the nature of the fire.
The readymade garment industry has improved after the Tazreen Fire and Rana Plaza tragedy, and yet we regularly have such fire incidents in other industries. What is the situation of industrial safety, in general, in Bangladesh?
As our industries are growing day by day, there is always a need for chemicals for the industries. There is the packaging industry, the paper industry and so on. As a result, we will need to import some types of chemicals. Hydrogen peroxide is one of them.
If we do not transport and store this chemical properly and regulate their movement effectively, then there is a huge risk. The developed countries have separate chemical management laws. There are regulatory bodies in those countries and they have a database of the chemicals. They regularly keep the movement and storage of the chemicals under surveillance.
We do not have such a law. What we do after an accident is engage in a blame game. One ministry blames another for the fire. For this reason, though there are different stakeholders, they never take responsibility for an accident.
I think we can take the Sitakundu incident as a turning point for such an initiative. What we want is, as there is a need for chemicals for our industry, we will have to have unified safety guidelines so that all can follow the guidelines, the importers as well as the container depots. Definitely, the government will have to make a chemical management act and monitor these chemicals on a regular basis.
Depending on the nature of the chemicals, we will have to handle and transport, as well as store these chemicals. The Chittagong Port Authority follows the standard but the private container depots do not.
Chemicals need to be kept at a certain temperature. Chemicals need to be kept between concrete walls so that if any container explodes, it will not spill over. If we can bring the whole thing under accountability, then it will work well and efficiently.
Under pressure from foreign buyers, the RMG sector has been compelled to improve the fire safety standard but the situation in other sectors like the leather industry, the plastic industry as well as light engineering is very poor. These industries are not being monitored on a regular basis. If we can bring them under surveillance gradually, we will get rid of devastating accidents.
Outside of industry, what is the condition of fire safety in commercial buildings, including markets and shopping malls, where we have also had many accidents?
Fire incidents will happen. We will have to take preventive measures. If there is a fire, they can go out using stairs. Market owners will have to keep separate stairs for fire safety. We do not follow the minimum compliance standards. Markets as well as the hospitals are vulnerable and at high risk of fire. One after one, we keep seeing fire accidents occur.
The condition of residential buildings is not satisfactory. There are some real estate development companies which work on fire safety measures. But there are many more companies who do not care about it much. Buildings will have to have a fire escape and they will have to have water reservoirs. The building owners do not pay heed to these things. People should invest for their life's safety.
Unfortunately, the developer wants to save money and at the same time the building owners do not want to invest for their safety. I believe that we will have to strengthen the regulatory body, the Department of Fire Service and Civil Defence, so that it can increase its scope for inspection.
Is the Fire Brigade and Civil Défense (FSCD) well-equipped to handle the growing number of fires?
There are mainly two measures the FSCD can take. One is the preventive measures and another is the fighting measures. If a building is constructed following rules and regulations, in the event of any fire, there is lowered risk.
But the problem is that the FSCD has long been suffering from a manpower crisis on one hand, and modern equipment crisis on the other hand. The total manpower of the agency is around 1,500.
Frankly, the FSCD does not have a separate prevention wing. The man who is involved in fighting fires is doing an investigation and writing a report. In other countries, there are separate wings for different tasks.
The FSCD is under pressure. We need to reform the Department of Fire Service and Civil Defence. The preventive measure is limited because the inspection is limited. Like the developed countries, the regulatory body can outsource third parties to increase the inspection.
