Dubai Civil Defence launches massive inspection campaign

Dubai: The Dubai Civil Defence launched its largest ever inspection campaign in the wake of rising cases of fire in the emirate.

There has been a spate of massive fires in Dubai in the past few months, attributed mainly to a failure in abiding by preventive and safety standards in warehouses, factories and labour accommodation.

The preventive inspection campaign, in the first phase, will cover all geographic sectors that have factories, warehouses and temporary and permanent labour accommodation.

The 'Safety First' campaign started on Sunday and involves 10 inspection teams, said Major General Rashid Thani Al Matroushi, Director of Dubai Civil Defence.

The teams will carry out stringent inspections on the implementation of international safety standards.

According to statistics from Dubai Civil Defence, there have been a total of 316 fires in the first five months of 2008. Five per cent of them were major accidents, while 7 per cent of them involved rescue operations.