… Ministries working to get compliant with fire safety protocols
LAST WEEK,
Gleaner revealed, after obtaining 28 fire inspection reports from 2016 to date, that many government ministries were operating in breach of fire safety standards.
The Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce, one of two ministries the JFB gave six months to address several issues in 2019, has responded to our queries about its 4 St Lucia Avenue, Kingston, headquarters, saying it has been working “closely” with the landlord, the National Insurance Fund (NIF), to address the issues.
When an automated fire alarm and detection system will be put in place is “uncertain”, the ministry said, “based on discourse with the landlord”.
But the Audley Shaw-run ministry, in a thinly veiled threat to the NIF, said it will be “escalating the matter if traction is not received within a reasonable time”.
The Delroy Chuck-run justice ministry, which is renting a renovated property at 61 Constant Spring Road, St Andrew, for $10.4 million monthly, was also given six months last year to address a range of problems.
“We are advanced in dealing with various areas highlighted and have had ongoing consultations with the owner of the premises to address those matters that fall within his purview,” the ministry said in reference to the breaches, including limited fire alarm and automatic smoke detector system, missing fire extinguishers, and damaged ceiling tiles, among other issues.
The concerns have driven key trade unions – The Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions and the Jamaica Civil Service Association – to question the Andrew Holness administration’s commitment to enacting a new occupation safety and health legislation to end the reign of the 1943 outdated Factories Act as the main workplace safety law in a society where most jobs are service-based.
LAW TO GO BEFORE PARLIAMENT
Zavia Mayne, the state minister in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security which is leading the legislative reform, said a proposed law will go before Parliament “very early”.
The previous bill was tabled in 2017, a key step in a journey that started in 1995.
A parliamentary committee heard submissions from the public but the process got derailed with the dissolution of Parliament in August to make way for the general election.
“It is a high priority,” Mayne insisted.
Fire inspectors, who spoke with The Sunday Gleaner on condition of anonymity, accepted that under the law, they are empowered to make visits to buildings without invitation but they argue that it is “useless” to do some visits, especially follow-up ones, because recommendations are routinely ignored and it’s unlikely the commissioner will order the closure of buildings such as major public or private buildings.