Africa-Press – Mauritius. The Audit report set fire to the powder. He revealed that public buildings lack fire certificates. Ditto for private buildings rented by public institutions.
In the Audit report, it is stated that 280 state schools operate without a certificate and are therefore in contravention of the “Mauritius Fire and Rescue Service Act” and the “Occupational Safety and Health Act”.
In this regard, the Ministry of Education had budgeted funds for these schools to become fire compliant. But these funds are still unused. Therefore, no improvement has been made in this direction.
In 2022, the Audit report revealed that all of these schools had been operating without a Fire Certificate since 2017. During visits to 62 schools, eight had a fire alarm system that was not operational.
While 47 schools had no fire alarm system. In 18 schools, there are no fire escapes. The Fire Extinguisher Maintenance Certificate has also expired at 33 state schools.
What explains this? According to the Audit, in the absence of a site plan and architect’s plans, the request for a Fire Certificate had not been made or was rejected by the fire department.
A sum between Rs 5 million and Rs 20 million was voted in 2018-2019 until the 2021-2022 budget to remedy these shortcomings. However, these funds have not been used.
What is most surprising is that no fire simulation exercise, evacuation plan and training have been carried out with school staff as stipulated by the two cited laws.
As a result, the deadlines for complying with the provisions of the Mauritius Fire and Rescue Service Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act have not been respected.
This puts the safety of students at risk in the event of a fire. The Ministry must make this matter its priority and the establishments must respect the deadlines imposed.
However, there are constraints such as the space to build an emergency staircase or the necessary budget or lack of staff for the tender procedures. Since September 2021, applications for a Fire Certificate must be made online, on the National Electronic Licensing System.
Fire drills will resume in 2023. The most scandalous thing is that the buildings occupied by the police force also lack a Fire Certificate. Especially since there was a fire in early July 2022 in the quarters of the Special Supporting Unit (Unit) at the Central Barracks.
Many police force buildings do not have a fire certificate, including the new premises. You will recall that in January 2022, the PM inaugurated the new Divisional Headquarters in Abercrombie, Sainte-Croix.
However, this building was built between 2018 and 2022 for the sum of Rs 108.7 million. To date, it does not have a Fire Certificate, although a specification has been decided for corrective measures.
However, as early as September 2020, the firefighters had pointed out that this building does not meet the standards for having a Fire Certificate. The emergency exits are not clear, no escape door and 16 fire extinguishers are missing.
The Audit report points out that 70% of the buildings occupied by the police force do not have a Fire Certificate. Of the 256 buildings housing the police forces, only 76 have a valid Fire Certificate.
We learn that there were 123 requests for the granting of a Fire Certificate. Moreover, out of 16 buildings rented by the police force, only 12 have a Fire Certificate.
According to a new count, as of January 31, 2023, 110 public buildings occupied by the police force have obtained a Fire Certificate. While renovation work is underway for buildings awaiting a certificate.
Another sensitive place that does not have a Fire Certificate is the building housing the National Archives in Coromandel, whose rental contract has not been finalized because of this breach.
A request made on October 7, 2021 was rejected because it had to meet the standards for the storage of liquids. Changes were made to the building and the Fire Certificate was issued on January 10, 2023.
In addition, the Audit report points out that out of 38 regional offices of Social Security, 34 have a valid Fire Certificate. While requests have been made for the offices of Quatre-Bornes, Phoenix, La Flora and Grand-Gaube.
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