ID :
34470
Mon, 12/08/2008 - 12:09
Auther :

(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on Dec. 8)

Lack of safety measures

South Korea is notorious for ignoring safety measures to prevent fires,
occupational hazards and other accidents. Friday's fire at a cold storage
warehouse reminds us how important it is to abide by safety regulations and
install appropriate fire fighting equipment.
The blaze broke out in a warehouse basement in Icheon, 60 kilometers southeast of
Seoul, killing four workers and injuring two others.
It is regrettable that storage operators have failed to learn a painful lesson
from a tragedy which gutted a similar refrigerated warehouse in the same city in
January, claiming 40 workers.
The two accidents have much in common. Welding sparks caused both fires. The
structure of the two warehouses was similar in that they were highly vulnerable
to fire. Walls were set up with flammable panels, while each room had no windows,
with workers locked inside by a shutter.
Police said that a total of 3,950 sprinklers were set up in the basement and the
first and second floors. They did not work. No alarm bell rang to warn workers
inside storage rooms of the fire. In the January accident, the warehouse operator
turned off sprinkler switches and removed fire walls in order to expedite welding
work without paying heed to safety regulations.
In short, the fire tragedies were triggered by a lack of safety measures and the
failure to operate fire prevention equipment. It is safe to say that they were
man-made disasters that could have been avoided if proper safety measures had
been taken.
It is nonsense that the operators just set up fire prevention equipment only to
pass the safety checks conducted by municipal authorities.
Besides, the authorities must have neglected their supervision of such fire-prone
warehouses. How could inspectors approve the use of the structures, which were
not properly equipped with fire prevention devices? Suspicions are growing that
there might have been corrupt ties between inspectors and warehouse operators.
Whenever such a tragedy occurs, local authorities and the central government vow
to take bold steps to enforce stricter safety regulations. But they have only
proven that they were long on words but short on action to prevent disasters.
Against this backdrop, it is not strange that the country is again and again hit
by the recurrence of fires and other safety-related accidents. We should no
longer tolerate negligence of disaster prevention measures in a bid to avoid loss
of life and property.
(END)

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