Compliance checks MSMEs exempted from mandatory fire safety inspection

MICRO, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are not exempted from mandatory fire safety compliance inspections by the National Fire Authority (NFA).

The NFA clarified this ‘misunderstanding’ around the amendment to the National Fire Safety Act that exempted small business operators earning below $500,000 from paying inspection fees, but not from compliance checks.

“This is one misunderstanding. The amendment that was made in 2015 to the NFS Act, it removed that requirement that if you’re applying for a business license, you need a fire (Safety) certificate as well. Now you can just apply for a business license without a fire certificate,” NFA manager Legal Esala Radio told the recent inaugural MSME conference in Suva.

“But the issue was businesses were applying for business licenses, they were operating, but they were not coming to us for the inspection. They were left out there,” Mr Radio.

He told the conference that they found from recent inspections that some business properties had not been inspected since 2014.

“We are trying to rectify that. Even if you’re an MSME, you still need to be inspected. You’re not exempted from our inspections.”

According to the Fiji Revenue and Customs (FRCS), there are 116,000 registered MSMEs in the country.

Mr Radio said the statistics indicated the massive gap to bridge in the thousands of registered businesses that needed to be inspected to meet fire safety standards.

“One of the things we deal with on the ground is stereotype that ‘these guys are only coming for the money’. It is for the safety of your occupants, premises, people who will be attending to your business as well as businesses around you.

“Please do not turn us away when we come for inspections, we are also mandated under the law.”

The NFA conducted 4518 fire safety inspections in 2023, and 80 per cent of business establishments were compliant.