An amendment to hold some property owners liable for safety standard contraventions that lead to the deaths of first responders yesterday passed an initial review by the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee.
The bill to update the Fire Services Act (消防法) — drafted in response to a deadly industrial blaze that last year killed 10 firefighters and wounded nearly 100 others in Pingtung County — next heads to the legislative chamber for debate.
The draft stipulates that the registered administrators of industrial facilities must ensure that fire safety regulations are met or face penalties including imprisonment should their negligence result in deaths.
Photo: Lee Wen-hsin, Taipei Times
Site administrators would be required to have personnel ready to brief firefighters on potential hazards or be fined NT$500,000 to NT$10 million (US$15,610 to US$312,198), the bill says.
Administrators of large factories, industrial storage facilities or laboratories would be required to provide firefighters maps, an inventory of chemicals stored on site and other necessary information, it says.
The information must be uploaded to an online platform and presented to firefighters in person in the event of a fire, it says.
The definition of “large” has not yet been determined by lawmakers or regulators.
Failure to provide maps and other information would result in a NT$50,000 to NT$3 million fine, while failure to provide an inventory of chemicals on site would result in a NT$100,000 to NT$5 million fine.
Administrators who did not prepare an emergency fire plan or implement it would be imprisoned for up to seven years should their failure lead to deaths, the draft says.
Whistle-blowers who inform the authorities of fire safety contraventions would be eligible for a monetary reward, as long as they worked in or around the site’s premises, and the reward should be a percentage of fines, it said.
The amendment would authorize the government to nullify any decision on part of the employer to fire, demote or transfer the whistle-blower.
The legal person in charge of a site who neglected necessary fire safety measures in large buildings or facilities storing a certain quantity of hazardous materials would be fined NT$20,000 to NT$300,000, it said.
The bill states that national and local fire services must create consultative committees that include firefighters to advise officials on matters concerning operational procedures.
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