LAHORE: The Punjab government has decided to place the Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) under the administrative control of Services & General Administration Department.

Previously it was under the administrative control of the provincial home department. The chief minister had established a special committee under the additional chief secretary (ACS) to steer the process of this transition.

The first meeting of this steering committee was held at the Civil Secretariat on Wednesday. Rescue 1122 Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer gave a detailed briefing about the performance of his organisation.

The meeting reviewed the proposed draft of The Punjab Fire Prevention and Community Safety Act-2017 in which many things are being introduced. They include uniformity in the fire safety standards, capacity-building measures for the fire engineers, annual risk assessment of the high-rise buildings, commercial plazas and industrial units of all kinds so that the risk of any tragic incident due to fire and collapse could be minimised.

Meeting reviews proposed Fire Safety Act draft

The ACS emphasised the need to implement the preventive measures to avoid such calamities in future so as to prevent loss of precious human life.

He suggested that the onus of responsibility for any mishap should be shifted to the owners of the affected premises and a paradigm shift should be incorporated in the fire safety law by replacing the inspection system of industrial units into self-accountability fire safety audit set-up through professional firms.

It should be made mandatory for each company to designate its own safety manager who should be specifically trained for this job.

The proposed draft also includes annual risk assessment of premises in line with the best international fire safety standards.

The meeting decided to maximally utilise “HAZMAT” teams to control fire in chemical factories using foam material.

The Punjab government will facilitate Rescue 1122 by providing 60 feet high snorkels at the district headquarter level throughout the province and seeking a sufficient number of rescue cardiac ambulances from the chief minister, added the ACS.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2017