Fire safety preparedness in about 30 per cent of the government and private hospitals in Ernakulam is inadequate, said an official audit. The serious lapse was revealed during a fire safety audit conducted by the Fire and Rescue Services Department.
Senior officials associated with the process told The Hindu that the managements of these hospitals have informed them that they were unable to implement the fire safety mechanism recommended by the department based on the provisions of the National Building Code.
The hospital managements cited the age of the building as a major hurdle in ensuring fire safety compliance. They also admitted that the fire escape routes were remodelled for other purposes. The audit found shortcomings in the water storage capacity in these hospitals. According to the rules, buildings having a height between 24 and 30 metres should have an underground storage tank (earmarked for fire protection) with a capacity of 1.5 lakh litres and an overhead tank with 20,000 litre capacity. For buildings below 24 metre height, the corresponding levels are 1 lakh and 20,000 litres.
Fire safety officials pointed out that some of the hospital managements were yet to step up the storage capacity of the underground storage tanks and overhead tanks as per the rules and regulations. The Fire Safety department remains clueless over the action to be taken against the hospital managements that failed to revamp the existing infrastructure to meet the safety guidelines. The safety wing also lacks the teeth to penalise the violators owing to the lack of adequate provisions in the Kerala Municipal and Building Rules. It can only alert the local bodies to initiate action against the hospitals concerned.
