Sharjah government examines building safety codes

Sharjah has suffered from a recent spate of high rise accidents including fire and falling people

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Sharjah’s Civil Defence and Government Directorate of Town Planning and Survey will jointly examine the building materials developers currently used in construction of high rise apartments to ensure the conform to safety standards.

Following the recent spate of high-rise accidents in the emirate, Sharjah Media Centre, the communications arm of the Sharjah government, organised a televised debate on safety at home and in buildings.

Held in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior, Sharjah Civil Defence and Sharjah University, the forum aimed to identify the key causes of the accidents.

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“All buildings in Sharjah adhere to the Civil Defence safety codes. Furthermore, on our part, Sharjah Civil Defence and Ministry of Interior have conducted continuous awareness campaigns, which are in line with the directives of the Ministry of Interior,” said Brigadier General Abdullah Al Suwaidi, one of the panellists on the show.

The forum also highlighted that certain combustible materials were also used in the construction of buildings, which also constituted a life and safety risk.

Concern was also raised over the lack of awareness amongst families living in the buildings, due to their persistence with hazardous practices such as using the balcony as storage space.

“Accidents can happen due to several reasons, such as leaving children unattended, using balconies as storage space and a general lack of mindfulness among some families. We call upon everyone to ensure greater safety to their children and avoid mishaps through the adopting of simple recommendations,” Brigader Al Suwaidi said.

The Civil Defence currently use a safety code that is a hybrid of standards used in the UK, the US and Singapore. The service has an emergency response time of six to eight minutes, which is well within international standards.