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EDITORIAL
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Tuesday, March 20, 2018
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IT IS UNFORTUNATE that as the nation observes the month of March as Fire Prevention Month, a fire incident at a hotel in the nation’s capital on Sunday killed five casino employees of the state-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
Including these latest fatalities, the number of people who died in workplace fires – in four big fire incidents nationwide – climbed to 79 since June last year, according to the Associated Labor Unions – Trade Union Congress of the Philippines. The main causes of deaths were suffocation and burning.
To prevent more deaths of workers due to non-compliance and lax enforcement of occupational safety and health standards in workplaces, it would be wise for government agencies concerned – such as the Bureau of Fire Protection and Department of Labor and Employment – to conduct fire safety audit, especially on malls, hotels and high-rise buildings.
It is always the workers who pay the price for the non-compliance of businesses to occupational safety and health standards due to poor government enforcement of workplace safety and health rules and regulations. If we do not require businesses to comply with workplace and building safety regulations, the more we expose employees and ordinary civilians to death-causing firetraps.
Just this December 2017, scores of call center workers were burned to death in the NCCC Mall fire in Davao City caused by faulty electrical wiring. In June 2 last year, too, 37 persons died in a fire inside Resorts World Hotel in Pasay City when a lone gunman barged in, opened fire and set afire a room and a gaming area before killing himself. Investigators found the hotel to have inadequate signages to guide trapped employees and guests to fire exits. Just this March 6, five construction workers were killed in Cebu City after a bunkhouse collapsed while they were asleep. Investigators found out the contractor built a substandard and low-cost multi-storey temporary facility for its 160 workers.
An honest-to-goodness inspection can ensure that occupational safety and health standards are met and national building safety standards are complied with by building owners and businesses.
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