Manila bars extension of US call centre after deadly fire
manila — The Philippines has barred a branch of an American call centre firm from expanding in the country following a pre-Christmas fire that killed dozens of its employees, a senior government official said on Wednesday.
Charito Plaza, director-general of the government’s Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), said the agency had suspended the operations of American firm Research Now SSI, as well as the shopping mall hosting it, for failing to meet certain safety requirements since 2013.
“They can operate again once they get a clearance from the Bureau of Fire and the local government,”
They can operate again once they get a clearance from the Bureau of Fire and the local government
Charito Plaza, Chief of Philippine Economic Zone Authority
Plaza told in a text message.
The authority’s suspension took effect on December 29, but it only covers SSI’s branch in the southern city of Davao where the December 23 blaze broke out at a furniture and fabric store on a lower floor of the New City Commercial Center (NCCC) mall before engulfing the call centre’s offices. Thirty-eight people were killed. SSI’s office in Cebu, in the central Philippines, would not be affected as it has been complying with Peza rules, Plaza said.
Investigators looking into fire said there were indications safety lapses may have contributed to the tragedy. “Violations were more of the non-compliance of annual emergency drills to test the fire safety equipment, response and rescue capability, sprinklers and emergency exits,” Plaza said.
SSI and the mall were registered with Peza in 2008, as a business process outsourcing firm and an economic zone developer, respectively. —