Cringeworthy safety measures

On May 10, the Supreme Court building caught fire allegedly due to a short circuit

The Supreme Court building in the country’s capital houses some important people and public service offices. It is a pivotal body of justice and democracy but apparently that was not enough for the authorities to pay any heed to the safety of the building. On May 10, it caught fire allegedly due to a short circuit. No close-circuit cameras were functional to rule out arson as a possibility but mice have been implicated for chewing away at wires and causing the fire. Several rooms housing the Supreme Court Bar Association and the Press Association of the Supreme Court were burnt to ashes. There was no operational fire alarm system in the building; the current one was installed 20 years ago while the installation of a new alarm system has been pending for several years owing apparently to the lack of will to spend on this necessary installation.

Pakistan does not possess a healthy culture of safety. Fire safety, especially, has never been given much importance. New edifices continue to be erected without safety infrastructures, reflecting negligence. Buildings, new and old, lack the means to terminate fires, primarily because people often do not want to spend money on preventive measures that could potentially save lives. Schools and workplaces hardly ever provide any fire safety training and there is little attention paid to fire escape plans. Many buildings in our urban centres lack fire alarms or fire extinguishers — or none that are regularly serviced anyway — nor is there any consequence for neglecting to establish basic fire safety measures in public places and homes. Human safety is the one area where the government should not be stingy. It is important that an important establishment like the Supreme Court is made safe for those who work there by ensuring the basics and installing an up-to-date fire alarm system. In fact, maybe the courts will take cue from this event and direct the relevant authorities to ensure adequate fire safety measures everywhere in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2016.

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