Partying in death traps - Less than 15% of amusement venues meet safety regulations, says JFB

With only one in every eight places of amusement in the Corporate Area being compliant with fire safety regulations, there are fears that members of the public are unknowingly putting their safety at serious risk as they attend events in the nation’s capital.

The situation is one that Stewart Beckford, commissioner of the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB), finds untenable, as any emergency arising could see many persons being injured or even dying because of the widespread flouting of safety regulations.

“We in the fire brigade are taking active steps to ensure that we educate the public as much as we can, to make sure we work as closely as possible with the municipal corporation and the Ministry of Health to either get these places shut down or have them come in and be regularised,” Beckford said.

The fire chief was speaking to The Gleaner yesterday following a press briefing at the offices of the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development in St Andrew.

According to Beckford, many of the buildings being used as places of amusement were not purpose built and, therefore, lack the various fire-safety considerations.

“[There is] the issue of no fire extinguishers; there is no alternative escape route – one way in, one way out. So if there is a fire at that particular entrance, you can imagine what the outcome of that would be because there is no other means of escape,” he said.

The fire chief also cited a lack of emergency exits, smoke alarms and smoke detectors among common breaches.

The JFB, Beckford said, continues to conduct inspections of amusement facilities to ensure that they become compliant.

“We would have gone, done our inspection, and pointed out to them what the areas that we believe they need to take steps to rectify and we would have given them time, of course, to have these sorted out. And then we will do a follow-up inspection, where they would have complied with the recommendations made, then we’d certify them,” Beckford said.

But while the fire brigade tries to get venue operators to become compliant with fire regulations, many of them fail to acquire the certification even when they meet the standards.

“One of the issues that we have also observed is that persons will take the necessary steps to implement the measures as recommended, but the final process to get full certified, they would not have taken that final step, which is to come into our office, pay the requisite fee, and we issue them with a certificate to say, ‘Yes, you’re compliant’. So in some instances, persons are compliant, but the fact is they don’t take that final step to get that certificate.”

Between January 1 and November 30, there were 1,875 fires across the island, compared to 1,872 over the corresponding period last year.

nickoy.wilson@gleanerjm.com