23 Sep Enforcement of regulations required

Experts speaking at the Middle East Facades Summit held at Dubai World Trade Centre called for strict enforcement of  tough building regulations to prevent more fires breaking out in the region’s many high rise buildings.

Their message was safety rules should be followed to the letter, controls should make sure that non-flammable and fire retardant materials are properly installed and that periodic inspections and maintenance should be carried out on all buildings.

All those measures would allow residents of high rise buildings more time to move away safely should a fire break out.

“The designs are put together well enough to prevent a fire, or to prevent the fire from getting into the facade,” said David O’Riley, managing partner of Britannia International, a fire engineering company.

“But the major problem in this part of the world is that those elements that are designed specifically to mitigate the fire are invariably left out or not actually installed properly.”