Recently, the Ministry of Construction has reported on the implementation of the Prime Minister’s direction on removing difficulties and obstacles in fire prevention and fighting.

Accordingly, through the work of grasping the reality, having dialogues with thousands of agencies, organizations and individuals, working with the Ministry of Public Security and opinions of localities, the Ministry of Construction has summarized a number of difficulties, major problems related to fire protection in recent times.

Many fire protection design consulting units choose solutions that are exceeding regulations

According to the report of the Ministry of Construction, new construction or renovation works face difficulties and obstacles in the application of fire prevention and fighting regulations and standards.

Specifically, through the media, documents of localities, a number of official letters sent to the Ministry of Construction asking for clarification on Regulation 06, it is possible to summarize some of the following main issues: Fire resistant paint; Fire resistance limit of roofing parts; Finishing materials; Renovations repair; The requirements of the standard, the standard is too high.

Notably, especially for the problem of requirements of regulations, standards are too high, the Ministry of Construction said that in fact many design consultancy units on fire prevention and fighting have chosen inappropriate solutions exceeding regulations and standards for more favorable approval, then problems in the construction and acceptance of fire prevention and fighting and blame the regulations, standards or the fire police agency.

Analysis of the above-mentioned difficulties and problems shows that the investor, the fire prevention and fighting consulting units do not have the correct awareness of the regulations and standards of fire prevention and fighting in general and QCVN 06:2022/BXD in particular. There are many misinterpreted and misapplied contents.

The Ministry of Construction also said that there are contents that have been regulated for a long time but have not been paid attention to, until now, when strengthening the management of fire prevention and fighting, they are aware, showing certain limitations in understanding and compliance with regulations and standards.

There are many cases where the design consultant chooses fireproof elevator doors with EI standards exceeding the requirements of the project, wasting resources (Photo: Behind the Badge)

From the issue raised by the Ministry of Construction in the report, looking back at the elevator industry, there are currently no clear regulations on the EI standard requirements of fireproof elevator landing doors for each type of building.

This also leads to cases where the inspection records exceed the requirements of the works. These cases not only cause additional costs and expenses for investors but also waste social resources.

Specifically, in the process of selecting fire-resistant landing doors, if the design consultant has the capacity and experience, he will carefully study the works and positions that need EI 30, EI 60 or EI 120.

However, in the case of units and individuals who want to be sure to be approved for fire protection conditions, they will require elevators to meet higher standards than actual requirements, leading to expensive costs.

For example, in package No. 9 for supply and installation of elevators (passenger elevators) under the project of Petrolimex Hai Duong Office Headquarters, released on May 10, 2023, the design of the landing door is required with minimum fire resistance is E30.

Meanwhile, there is also a bidding package for the supply and installation of elevators (passenger elevators) under the project of Building the working office of the Northern Airport Authority at the International Airport released on September 28. 2018 again requires the design of elevator landing doors that are fire-resistant within 60 minutes.

Even bidding package MSHH 01: Supply and install 2 1000kg elevators, 9 stops at the project of renovation and expansion of the Dong Thap Provincial Police Office, which was released on May 8, 2023 requires elevator landing door designed with fire resistance E120.

Requirements for elevator landing doors with fire resistance E120 are also mentioned in the bidding package Supply and installation of construction equipment at the project Building student housing (dormitory) – Area I Political Apprentice.

In recent years, many large fires have often occurred, causing heavy loss of life and property (Photo: Economic and Urban Newspaper)

In addition, also in the report of the Ministry of Construction, new construction, or renovation projects face difficulties in transitioning to works in the design, comment, or approval stage of fire prevention and fighting, and acceptance of fire prevention and fighting.

Although Decree 136/2020/ND-CP and regulations have very clear provisions on transitional terms and effective duration, in principle the work has been commented on or approved in accordance with the provisions of this Decree. at any time, continue to comply with the regulations at that time, but in fact there are still cases of using the new standard for works that have been designed and commented on or approved before.

According to the Law on Fire Protection 2021, revised in 2013, the Fire Protection Standards are mandatory to apply. Thus, in essence, these fire protection standards are equally effective as regulations.

For standards on fire prevention and fighting (mandatory application), there is no transition clause and will take effect immediately upon issuance by the Ministry of Science and Technology (according to the Law on Standards and Digital Regulations No. 68/QH11/2006) and relevant decrees and circulars).

This regulation also creates certain obstacles and difficulties in the transfer of works and projects.

More than 8,000 projects have been put into use but have not yet been accepted for fire protection

For issues related to existing projects, the Ministry of Construction has pointed out a number of problems, specifically:

Firstly, existing projects with violations on fire prevention and fighting can be constructed and exploited in different stages and times (before QCVN 06:2022/BXD takes effect), without being handled promptly or specifically notifying the competent State agencies for guidance and handling.

However, according to the official documents of some localities, there is still the application of new regulations for existing projects.

According to the Ministry of Construction, this is an incorrect understanding with the transitional principle of the standard and the non-retrospective principle of the legal document, leading to a part of the people and the project owner misunderstanding that the new regulation causes difficulties, requiring renovation and repair according to new standards, while the project is in violation of the fire prevention and fighting regulations at the time of being approved or considered for acceptance.

An Phu karaoke bar fire killed more than 30 people in Binh Duong (Photo: Youth)

Secondly, the number of violating establishments that are not subject to the approval of fire prevention and fighting accounted for the largest proportion (66.2%). Usually, when the construction is not subject to fire safety approval, the provisions of the regulations and standards on fire prevention and fighting are also of little concern.

Thirdly, violations of basic fire safety principles (escape for people, prevention of fire spread) accounted for the largest proportion (63.1%).

On the other hand, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Public Security, since 2001 up to now, the statistics of 8,114 works that have been put into use but still exist on fire prevention and fighting have not been tested and accepted.

Therefore, compliance with regulations and standards and basic fire safety knowledge of investors and consulting units is still limited.