Editorial: Time to get tough on fire safety

The fire tragedy at a nightclub in Goa on Saturday, Dec. 6, accords to an all-too-familiar and depressing pattern of operational and regulatory failings that characterise every such occurrence in India. The conclusions of inquiries into those mishaps are all ad nauseam similar, and the outcomes all trend towards zero.

The fire at the Birch nightclub in Arpora village in North Goa broke out close to midnight when merrymaking was high. Electric firecrackers were set off amidst a packed crowd, and the sparks ignited the combustible material used in the interiors. Most of the 25 fatal casualties were asphyxiated due to the smoke generated, especially in the basement kitchen, which had no ventilation or easy exit. The lack of fire alarms, proper signage and emergency training of staff contributed to workers and tourists getting trapped. Preliminary investigations have revealed reckless violation of basic safety norms, including mandatory fire safety clearance and construction licences. Furthermore, the structure was built on salt pan land in disregard of environmental laws, and a demolition notice was stayed due to interference from above.

This rigmarole was common to the other fire tragedies we had the bad fortune to witness this year. In May, fire broke out in the pre-dawn hours in a three-storey residential building at Gulzar Houz in Hyderabad, resulting in the death of 17 people, all members of one family. The cause was an electrical short circuit in a pearl emporium on the ground floor whose interiors used a lot of flammable material and had no fire safety equipment. The deaths were all due to asphyxiation.

Further back in April, an illegal firecracker workshop exploded in the Banaskantha district of Gujarat, killing 21 workers, some of whom were children. A forensic probe revealed that the highly reactive aluminium powder used in the manufacture was ignited by an accidental spark. The factory had no valid licence and no fire safety measures worth the name.

If fire safety violations are occurring frequently and there is clear evidence of casual disregard by both establishments and administrations, it means that enforcement must work along a wider front and involve other stakeholders, such as customers and citizens themselves. There is too much at stake for the citizen to leave it to the tender mercies of businesses and civic agencies.

A good first step would be to make the customer a potential whistleblower. To enable this function, it must be made mandatory for establishments to indicate their fire safety status on all their public interfaces, including websites and social media, platform listings, hoardings, streetside signage and front desk.

Another approach would be to make non-compliance too expensive for establishments. Compensation for mishap victims, be they workers or customers, must cover their lifetime earnings regardless of age and employment type. This would call for rigorous implementation of the new labour codes on employment status and occupational safety. It would also require the courts to go beyond the awards handed down by the Supreme Court in the Uphaar Cinema tragedy in 2016.

On the administrative side, there is a clear need to disincentivise officials who sleep on the watch. Not only must a fire safety officer be held accountable for tragedies that occur in his or her jurisdiction, but the details of their dereliction must be entered into their employment record.

Only stern and universal enforcement of regulations will make our business establishments safe for the customer and worker alike.