A burning issue

Indian cities often see deadly fires, killing large numbers of people and injuring many. Fire-related accidents in locations like businesses, schools and homes have, on average, killed 35 people every day in the five years between 2016 and 2020, according to the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) report, published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

Electrical short-circuits are responsible for a significant share of fire accidents. Data from the NCRB shows they caused 1,943 fire incidents in 2020, only marginally less than the 2,183 recorded nationwide in 2019.

NCRB data also reveals that 163 people died in fires in commercial buildings in 2020, compared to 330 in 2019.

Photograph iStock, credit-Technical Bhadresh

A tendency among in charge of commercial establishments to cut costs, electrical faults, negligence in carrying out fire safety audits, failures in implementing fire safety rules and technical reasons – like non-functioning firefighting systems, inadequate sprinkler systems and the presence of combustible materials – make commercial establishments especially vulnerable to fire.

Safety experts say that in commercial buildings and industrial units, major fires often start in storage and warehousing areas, rather than production areas.

This year, in the hot months of May and June, the country witnessed several fire accidents in industrial and commercial units that have put a fresh spotlight on workers’ safety and a fire safety system that experts say is a shambles.

For instance, a fire broke out at Berger Paints’ Shalimar factory in Howrah in West Bengal on 8 June 2022, affecting the exit gate and the raw material handling area. The incident left 22 injured and one dead.

Abhijit Roy, managing director and CEO of Berger Paints, said the cause of the fire is being investigated.

“Preliminary investigation points to a short circuit in an AC unit,” he said. “The best possible medical assistance is being provided to injured employees caused by the unfortunate incident.”

Apparently, the plant’s own firefighting system aided the efforts of firefighters in tackling the blaze, and both water and foam were used to extinguish the fire.

Following the fire, Howrah Municipal Corporation chairman Dr Sujoy Chakraborty said a taskforce will inspect every paint factory in Howrah to check they are complying with the necessary hazard-safety protocols. Shalimar is Bengal’s paint manufacturing hub, and the factories of several paint companies are located there.

In another incident, a massive fire broke out at Deepak Nitrite Limited, a chemical manufacturing company, following multiple blasts at the company’s facility at Nandesari industrial estate near Gujarat’s Vadodara on 2 June.

Seven workers were hospitalised after inhaling smoke, while some 700 people living in the rural areas adjoining the factory had to temporarily move to safer locations while firefighters tackled the blaze.

Following the incident, the company released a statement saying it was monitoring the situation and that the safety of its staff and the community around the plant is its first priority.

Ignoring fire safety rules
The actions and reactions of the affected companies and the relevant local government officials to the two factory fires described above show that, in the organised sector, employers do place importance on protecting workers from the risk of fire. However, every year India witnesses numerous fires where factory owners have not only brazenly ignored worker safety rules and violated fire safety norms, but have also fled the scene to avoid prosecution.

The months of May and June have been no different.

On 4 June, 13 people died and over 20 were injured in a fire at a chemical factory that was manufacturing fireworks illegally in the Dhaulana industrial area in the Hapur district of western Uttar Pradesh. The blast took place after a boiler exploded in the factory, named Ruhi Chemical.  

The impact of the explosion was so intense that the roofs of some nearby factories were damaged.

According to the police, the factory was owned by Dilshad Khan of Meerut, who had rented it out to an individual called Wasim a few months earlier. Although Dilshad had a licence to manufacture electrical equipment at the factory, Wasim illegally started making crackers at the premises when he took over. After the fatal explosion, Wasim fled the premises but was later arrested.

The worst fire incident reported so far this year was the tragic death of 27 people in a huge blaze at an office building in Mundka in Delhi on 13 May. The horrific accident once again exposed the inadequate fire safety standards in hundreds of commercial and institutional buildings, factories, hospitals and even schools that are operating without a fire safety certificate in the national capital.

There were numerous fire and building safety flaws in the four-storey Mundka building. These included structural design flaws that failed to meet even basic safety mandates, a single entry and exit point, escape routes that remained inaccessible and missing firefighting equipment.

The chief officer of Delhi Fire Services (DFS) Atul Garg said the building was not approved and did not have a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the fire department. The NOC is a document that shows the fire prevention and safety requirements are in line with the DFS rules.

According to a senior fire official in Delhi, more than 50 per cent of the commercial buildings in the city are operating without a fire safety certificate – including restaurants, shops and factories.

“These have been mushrooming illegally in residential areas of the capital and are ticking time bombs, making thousands of people vulnerable to fire incidents,” the official said.

Meanwhile, the DFS received 2,145 fire-related calls, and recorded 117 non-fatal cases and 42 deaths, in the first 19 days of May this year. The fire department said the figure of 2,145 incidents is the highest for the same 19-day period of May compared to the same period of the month over the last three years.

Garg added that this year Delhi is witnessing a large number of fire incidents in illegal commercial and industrial units.

Campaigners demanded to know who was responsible for the Mundka office fire, called for the culprits to be arrested, sought compensation for the victims and called for action to prevent a recurrence. The owner of the building absconded after the fire, but was arrested two days later by Delhi Police.  

National Human Rights Commission demands action on fire safety in Delhi
Meanwhile, following a fire at an illegal electrical goods factory in Delhi’s Mustafabad area in May 2022, in which a 42-year-old man died and six others were injured, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued notices to the Delhi government and the city’s police commissioner, demanding action on fire safety standards in the capital.

According to media reports, the incident happened on the first floor of the building in a residential area of Mustafabad where electrical items such as inverters and stabilisers were being made. The factory was reportedly being run without a licence.

The Commission said that, if the media reports are accurate, the incident amounts “to violation of human rights of victims”. It called for a detailed report from the Delhi government and police within four weeks, “including the action taken against the guilty”.

The NHRC added: “The Commission has also observed that in order to avoid repeated fire incidents in NCT of Delhi, the Department of Delhi Fire Services shall initiate fire audit in multi-storied and any such buildings having no licence and/or not maintaining fire safety norms in the Delhi region, expeditiously and submit a report accordingly.

“The Commission further observed that in the National Capital region there are a large number of factories and other commercial units, which may be running without licences and proper safety arrangements for the occupants/workers.

“There is an immediate need for the authorities concerned to ensure strict compliance of the safety norms at commercial activities as also recommended earlier.”

Although there are various rules, regulations, codes and standards covering fire safety in business premises in India, experts say these are frequently ignored, as shown by the high numbers of fires in workplaces.

National Building Code of India sets out fire safety standards
One of the primary laws designed to ensure adequate fire safety standards in public buildings is the comprehensive and detailed National Building Code of India (NBC). The NBC sets out specifications and guidelines for the safe design of buildings and use of materials to reduce the threat of destructive fires. For example, it specifies when fire resistance materials must be used in exterior walls, interior bearing walls, floors, roofs, fire check doors and fire enclosure exits.

The code also recommends that buildings of different types are located in specific zones. This is to ensure that industrial and hazardous buildings and structures are not situated in locations where they will pose a risk to residential, institutional, office and business buildings.

The code also sets requirements for firefighting technologies in certain buildings. For instance, automatic fire detection and alarm systems, automatic sprinklers and water sprays, fireperson’s lift, fire barriers, must be installed in certain premises.

Pradyumna Mishra, VP – planning, procurement and facilities management at Salarpuria Sattva Group, a major real estate development and construction company, says that in India, leading building developers follow the NBC because it provides a set of instructions on building requirements, development control rules and administrative regulations. These include requirements for fire safety systems, structural design, construction, and the use of certain materials, building and plumbing services.

“Developers and architects need to plan on aligning the defined fire safety procedures, during the design/construction phase,” said Mishra. “They should ensure that the constructed project is compliant, in terms of fire and smoke detection and fire alarm systems.”

Although retrofitting old buildings with the latest fire safety systems is a solution and can reduce the risk of fires by 30-40 per cent, experts warn that most of the older, higher-risk buildings are located in highly congested areas with narrow roads. This makes it difficult for fire service vehicles to access the building in the event of a fire.

Experts say the best way of preventing fires in business premises, like factories, offices and shops, is to focus on removing fire hazards and managing the remaining fire risks. “Raising the bar of awareness on fire safety will eliminate the risks and damages caused by fire mishaps,” argues Mishra.

New Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code ‘will lower safety standards’
Meanwhile, labour rights campaigners say the Mundka tragedy highlights a general callousness about worker safety that is the direct result of a liberalised labour law regime in India.

Dharmendra Kumar, from the Working Peoples’ Coalition (WPC), a network of more than 150 organisations that campaign on labour rights, argues that workplace tragedies – like fires – will become more frequent following the introduction of the forthcoming Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code, 2020 . Kumar says the Code will exempt 85 per cent of establishments from following certain occupational safety norms.

“Once the new law comes into force, most small and medium-scale industries will no longer be legally required to follow the occupational safety standards,” he claims.

The four labour codes – the Code on Wages, Industrial Relations Code, Social Security Code and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code – are set to replace 29 existing labour laws once the government finishes framing the rules for their implementation.

The existing Factories Act stipulates that establishments must follow certain safety norms if their production processes involve the use of power and they have 10 or more employees, or if the processes do not use power and they have 20 or more employees.

However, the Occupational Safety Code increases the threshold for following the safety norms to having 20 or more employees if production involves power, and 40 or more employees if it does not.

The soon-to-be-replaced Factories Act also sets requirements for risk-free plants and systems and safe arrangements for the use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances.

According to the WPC, 85 per cent of India’s workplaces – especially medium and small enterprises that tend to be more vulnerable to occupational hazards and safety violations – will not be required to follow these safety norms.

Jagdish Patel, director of the People’s Training & Research Centre in Vadodara, a voluntary organisation that offers training to workers to improve occupational health and safety standards, said: “In 2009, India declared a National Policy on Safety, Health and Environment at Work, but the government has since forgotten to take any action in line with the policy. Now, in the name of simplification of labour laws, several laws have been collated into four labour codes, but there is no discussion on this.”

R Nagaraj, an economist and visiting professor at the Centre for Development Studies in Thiruvananthapuram, added: “With the scrapping of mandatory government oversight of safety regulations, no mystery; industrial and fire-related accidents have shot up.

“The labour reforms have seemingly ’rewarded’ India’s working poor with greater workplace insecurity for helping India climb the ladder of ‘global best practices’.”