SANDAKAN: The State Fire and Rescue Department is taking the friendly approach to encourage more premises owners to apply for a fire certificate (FC) for their buildings in Sabah.
The department’s director, Nordin Pauzi, said that it is against the law for identified premises of nine fixed categories not to have a FC for their premises, a requirement under Section 33 of Fire Services Act 1988.
Those who do not comply faces the risk of punishment of up to three years imprisonment and be liable for up to RM5,000 in fines. To date, he said, there are four court cases relating to premises owners not having a FC.
However, Nordin stated, he does not want owners of premises to get a FC just for the sake of complying with the law, but he wants to target people to apply for a FC more for their awareness on the importance of fire safety.
“In order for us to spread awareness on how vital fire safety is to a premises, we organize seminars such as this,” he said during a press conference after officiating a Fire Certificate Seminar at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel here, yesterday.
The Fire Certificate Seminar was attended by over 300 people from all over the east coast of Sabah who are interested in getting a FC or to get to know premises’ fire safety better, including premises’ owners, architects, and engineers.
The seminar aims to share information on fire safety procedures and fire hazards identification techniques that could be of benefit to FC practitioners from all over the State.
Nordin later revealed statistics showing that there are 474 premises in Sabah that have been identified under the nine categories which must possess a FC, but only 281 have applied.
The nine categories of premises includes library, hospital and medical treatment centre, hotel, hostel and dormitory, office, shop lot, factory, assembly centre, and storage house.
He further explained that the Fire and Rescue Department does not only function to save people’s lives and put out fire, but they also carry the responsibility to make the public aware of fire hazards.