Call for an urgent and wide-ranging fire safety audit of properties
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An urgent and wide-ranging fire safety audit of properties is needed due to the number of serious breaches discovered in buildings across the country, according to SIPTU firefighters.
“Silence and inaction by the relevant authorities, including the Health and Safety Authority, alongside the so-called 'light touch' regulation of construction projects have allowed a situation to develop where risks for the public and fire service personnel have been significantly increased,” Con Casey, SIPTU National Retained Fire-fighter Organiser, claimed.
SIPTU Sector Organiser, Brendan O’Brien, said: “For several years we have requested that our fire services be resourced to conduct these audits to confirm the level of compliance with fire safety standards of buildings in Ireland. These requests have been ignored and the management of the fire service has refused to share vital information on known defects with operational officers.”
He added: “We support the recent call by Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, for a wide-ranging safety audit of premises. However, it must be backed up by resources to make such an audit an immediate reality.”
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