Abu Dhabi: An online fire safety compliance system, for companies across the UAE, will be launched at the beginning of next year, a senior official said Monday.
A uniform safety code across the country will also be enforced from October 1, making standards the same across industrial facilities.
The new online system will link companies with civil defence departments across the country to correctly identify fire hazard controls, maintain fire equipment systems and adhere to auditing standards,
“The system will review critical records including fire drills, evidence to support inspections, documented results of tests performed on fire safety equipment, an evaluation of the fire safety plan and provide stake-holders with a comprehensive deficiency report and recommend remedial actions to achieve the new federal fire code requirements to be launched on October 1,” said Major General Rashid Al Matroushi, acting commander in chief of the UAE Civil Defence.
Major General Al Matroushi said a uniform safety code will also be enforced from the beginning of next month across the country, making industrial facilities much safer and increasing compliance with safety standards.
“Violators will receive up to Dh50,000 fines,” he said.
Major General Al Matroushi was addressing a news conference held at the Interior Ministry to announce the outcome of a three month national fire safety campaign at industrial areas across the UAE, held between March and June.
The campaign, which saw civil defence teams visiting as many as 31,647 buildings and establishments in industrial areas, aimed at spreading preventive awareness among workers at industrial facilities, corrected violations that threatened public safety, trained five workers at each industrial facility on firefighting skills and created electronic data bases on risk level at these areas.
As many as 74 fire accidents occurred in industrial areas across the country last year, causing six casualties but no deaths reported.
Until August this year, some 33 fire incidents took place in industrial areas.
The number of fires in industrial areas between 2006 and 2010 was put at 345 industrial fire accidents causing six fatalities and 45 injuries.
Major General Al Matroushi attributed most of the industrial fires to a lack of awareness among workers and owners of industrial facilities.
He said the first national campaign in the Gulf region and Arab world will help attract more investors to industrial areas committed to safety requirements.
It will also improve the image of safety and awareness culture among individuals and the community as a whole which will positively be reflected in a remarkable reduction in both size and number of fire accidents and their losses at these areas.
The campaign, he added, provided an interactive and accurate database about industrial areas for planning, command and control purposes in all emirates.
