They didn’t have to die

Officials ignored ‘death trap’ warnings at a government building in Joburg – and three firefighters paid with their lives because of it.

Nursing body says workers’ numerous complaints fell on deaf ears.

The slow reaction to complaints from workers and a departmental study, both emphasising the poor safety conditions of the Gauteng provincial department of health offices, led to three deaths yesterday.

Three firefighters died and 13 employees of the Gauteng department of health have been admitted to hospital for smoke inhalation following a raging blaze on the upper floors of the building in the Johannesburg CBD.

One of the firefighters died after falling from the upper floors of the 23-storey building at about 11am following an explosion in one of the offices.

Gauteng provincial spokesperson Thabo Masebe said the government had instituted an investigation into the safety of the building, in reaction to complaints from workers.

Masebe said work had started on the building after the findings of a study conducted by the department of infrastructure development on all government buildings.

He said the results, released on Monday last week, stated that the building, which served as a working place for three departments – health, corporate governance and

These deaths could have been avoided

human settlements – failed dismally with 21% compliance to the required safety standards. This confirms the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa’s (Denosa) belief that the building was a death trap, and yesterday’s tragedy was inevitable.

Denosa said in a statement that union members had been complaining about the poor conditions at the building for a long time, without response from anyone in government.

Denosa provincial chairperson Simphiwe Gada said: “Gauteng health and infrastructure must take the blame for these deaths as they could have been avoided if they took the safety of the employees seriously.

“As recently as Friday, organised labour warned the employer on this urgent matter at the multilateral meeting where we asked to be the issued with the occupational health and safety certificate of the building.

“This was because the department had reneged on an earlier commitment to move all employees working at the provincial department of health to a safer building.”

He also said the fire only breaking out on the 23rd floor was highly suspicious, because that is where the provincial government’s law department, which was conducting an investigation on corruption, was located.

Masebe said it was still not clear what had caused the fire but that investigations will continue.

Pictures: Neil McCartney RESCUE. A police helicopter removes stranded firefighters from a building housing the Gauteng departments of health and human settlements in the Johannesburg CBD yesterday. Inset: An abandoned gas mask and cylinder at the scene.

Pictures: Neil McCartney GRIEVING. A firefighter breaks down after learning about the death of his colleagues. Three firefighters died at yesterday’s fire at the Gauteng department of health building in Johannesburg.

TRAGEDY. The body of the firefighter that fell from the 23rd floor during yesterday’s fire.

RESCUE. A police helicopter helps remove the stranded firefighters from the burning building.

TRAUMATISED. Firefighters at the scene of yesterday’s fire in a Gauteng department of health building in Johannesburg.