Be it at work or at home, all of us live in buildings. These concrete structures need to be places that are safe for us to live and do our work in. This is not always the case, sadly. When it comes to safe and strong construction, it can be seen that there is a disregard for fire safety. Recently, in a tragic incident in Surat, Gujarat, 22 kids lost their lives because of a fire hazard at a coaching center. Such instances bring out the need for fire safety in construction even more. However, it is important that we act before tragedy like the surat fire hazard incident hit us and we do everything in our power to incorporate fire safety in construction.
Fire Safety in Construction
History stands witness that fire safety regulations are poorly enforced in India. In a country with so many people, this can often lead to disaster. When disaster strikes, we are quick to act but before that, very few buildings in India care enough about fire safety to obtain the Fire Safety Compliance Certificate. This is not a complicated certificate. It simply approves your building as safe from such fire related disasters. However, most buildings go on working without it up until the point where unfortunate and avoidable disasters occur, resulting in loss of innocent life and uncontrollable damage.
The Need of Safety
According to the survey conducted by FICCI’s India Risk Survey 2017, fires are rates as the 5th largest risks to Indian business and buildings. It is not just the recent incident in Surat that has highlighted the issue of fire safety. Incidents have taken place in the field of railway, defence, industries, city centers, during festivals, etc. Studies show that this happens because of non – compliance of safety norms and non – renewal of safety licence. However, one can also see how poor infrastructure with obsolete fire equipment has to play a major role in this. The need for fire safety is higher today than ever and for this, one must do better and be aware of how we are constructing the spaces we occupy and work at.
The Role of Construction in Fire Safety
India has seen a rapid growth in the number of high rises and buildings over the last few years. Due to the nature of these high rises and the new construction styles, it becomes difficult to contain fire and also manage to save the destruction made to the property. The National Building Code steps in here. The National Building Code was established by the Bureau of Indian Standards. The main objective of this code was to provide measures which will protect the building from fire. There is a clear emphasis on minimum standards of fire safety for occupants of the building and or this, proper equipment needs to be installed.
Despite having all these rules and regulations, when disaster strikes is the time that we awaken and implement these rules. It is time to make fire safety a priority in construction so that we see no loss of lives because of the same.
