Fire-safety legislation a ‘hotch-potch’

Press, 24 August 1977, Page 3

Fire-safety legislation a ‘hotch-potch’

Timaru reporter i e The “hotch-potch” of firesafety legislation was long S overdue for rationalisation, i if not unification, said the 1 chairman of the Fire Service J Commission (Sir Jack Hunn) I at the annual conference of the Institution of Fire s Engineers in Timaru yester- ] day. „ j Some reference to fire 1 safetv was to be found in 16 < acts 'of Parliament, six sets t of Statutory regulations, t seven codes of practice, and < the by-laws of about 250 f local authorities, he said. Sir Jack said that in July [ a > fire officer was in-ij accurately reported to have| s said some buildings were I < firetraps, and there was an;< immediate demand that they ' be named. !1 “They cannot be named,;! because they are not known) to the Fire Service, and even j < if known, would still not be, ■ named,” he said, referring toij calls after Wellington’s Han-h nah’s fire for fire-hazard! buildings to be named, 1 “Existing buildings, in- I eluding shops and offices, I, are under the sole juris- 1, diction of the local-body j i engineers and then only in|j respect of ‘inadequate ex-j itways,’ said Sir Jack. “The Fire Service is not) required to inspect them and;] has no official record or I knowledge of them. Individual firemen may know some cases, but their private opinions have no legal status.” Since recommendations were made bv a Committee of Inquiry after the Sprott House fire in 1970, three significant measures had been passe# — substantial

improvements, but not enough on their own. These were the Fire Safety (Evacuation of Buildings) Regulations, 1970; the 1971 Municipal Corporations Amendment Act; and the Fire Service Act, 1975. The Fire Service Commission had since strongly supported statutory regulations in its annual reports to Parliament, said Sir Jack. The commission saw regulations as the key to the introductions and maintenance of reasonable standards of fire safety. Regulations were easier toI produce and amend, carried) more weight than by-laws, ] and would prescribe the! same minimum standards over the whole country. They would be applied by local bodies, but monitored by the commission. | “The arguments in favour of by-laws are pallid and I weak by comparison. It is; inexplicable why they pre-j I vail,” Sir Jack said. ! Regulations would need to; ,be drafted on behalf of the I I Fire Service Commission I leather than the Standards] i Association, which hardly; [seemed to be the proper, I forum anyway, he said. I There was a long way to; Igo on fire safety and faster .progress must be made on a i broad front, he said. I “The public interest, of course, should be the paramount consideration, and it is not well served by the leisurelv, halting, and indecisive processes on which it at present depends.” Sir Jack will retire next month after four years and a half in the Fire Service. He is an honorary fellow of I

the institution. Mr K. M. Comber, Parlia- . mentary Under-Secretary to the Minister of Internal , Affairs (Mr Highet) opened the conference, and paid tribute to Sir Jack for his work. .