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Following is a question by the Dr Hon Joseph Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, in the Legislative Council today (May 24):
Question:
Regarding fire safety measures in public housing estates and private buildings, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of cases received or discovered by the authorities last year concerning poor maintenance or malfunction of fire service equipment and obstruction of fire escapes in public housing estates and private buildings;
(b) of the present position of the authorities' work in promoting fire prevention in public housing estates and private building over the territory, the fire safety measures implemented and their effectiveness; of the numbers of fire escape inspections, tests on fire service equipment and fire drills conducted by the authorities for public housing estates and private buildings in each of the past three years; and whether the authorities reviewed, in the past year, their fire safety work to see if there are loopholes; if they did, of the details and findings of the review; and
(c) of the progress of the Estate Fire Safety Campaign launched by the Housing Department and its effectiveness in fire safety education, as well as the details and effectiveness of the fire safety campaigns organised by the District Fire Safety Committees of the Home Affairs Department in the past year?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) In 2005, the number of cases received or discovered by the Fire Services Department (FSD) and the Housing Department (HD) respectively concerning poor maintenance or malfunction of fire service installation and obstruction to means of escape in public housing estates and private buildings is as follow:
Poor maintenance or Obstruction to
malfunctioning of the means of
fire service escape
installation
---------------------- --------------
FSD
(Public 1,302 4,619
housing
estates
and
private
buildings)
HD
(Public 3,843 788
housing
estates)
(b) The Government's fire prevention work in public housing estates and private buildings is carried out mainly through inspections, fire drills, publicity and educational activities. The overall effectiveness of such work was satisfactory in the past three years, with the number of building fires dropping by 14 per cent. The relevant departments will continue to conduct interdepartmental meetings regularly to review and exchange views on fire prevention work in order to further enhance its effectiveness. The details and figures in this regard are as follows:
* In the past three years, FSD conducted an average of 14,000 inspections to means of escape in public housing estates and private buildings each year;
* Under the Fire Service (Installations and Equipment) Regulations (Cap 95B), the owner of any fire service installation or equipment installed in public housing estates or private buildings is required to keep such fire service installation or equipment in efficient working order at all times, and have such fire service installation or equipment inspected by a registered contractor at least once every 12 months. In the past three years, FSD conducted an average of about 81,000 inspections of fire service installation or equipment each year;
* HD conducts annual inspections, testing and preventive maintenance of all the fire service installations in public housing estates in accordance with the statutory requirements. In addition, HD arranges an additional inspection for fire hydrants, hose reels and alarm systems in public housing estates every six months to further enhance their reliability and stability. To ensure that the fire service installations are in good working order at all times, estate management staff, during their daily patrol, inspect all estate facilities, including fire service installations, and arrange immediate repairs or replacements for any damaged items.
* In addition, in the past three years, FSD assisted HD and private buildings to conduct an average of 2,000 fire drills each year;
* The Government's fire prevention work also includes organising various publicity and educational activities such as fire station open days cum district fire prevention carnivals, fire prevention quizzes, fire safety roving exhibitions, fire safety talks, and setting up District Fire Safety Committees to enhance public awareness of fire safety; and
* Government departments have also actively stepped up fire prevention management of buildings. For example, with a view to equipping security personnel with fire safety knowledge FSD, in collaboration with the Security and Guarding Services Industry Authority (SGSIA), has incorporated general fire safety measures and guidelines on what to do in case of fire into the "Manual for Security Personnel Providing Guarding Services in Buildings" prepared by SGSIA and the security training courses recognised by SGSIA. Since 2004, the Home Affairs Department (HAD) has jointly organised "Quality Building Management Competitions" with the District Councils annually to raise the standard of management and fire safety of private buildings.
(c) HD attaches great importance to fire safety education for public housing tenants. Every year, in collaboration with FSD, HD promotes fire safety and arranges regular activities to enhance public housing tenants' awareness of fire prevention. In 2005-06, a series of educational and promotional activities were organised under the slogan "Enhanced Fire Safety, Safer Estates". These activities include:
* inviting FSD's mobile publicity units to visit 51 public housing estates to promote knowledge about fire prevention and understanding of the functions and correct use of fire service installations;
* launching a special radio programme to promote fire safety in public housing estates;
* launching a new website on "Estate Fire Safety Campaign";
* broadcasting seven two-minute educational videos on the "Housing Channel" at the ground floor lobbies of public housing blocks;
* organising the "Estate Fire Safety Roadshow" in 44 estates, which included fire drills, fire safety talks, prize-winning quizzes, etc. Over 11,000 tenants participated;
* distributing a calendar card printed with tips on how to escape in case of a fire to every public housing household; and
* organising the "Estate Fire Safety Ambassador" training programme jointly with FSD and arranging volunteer fire safety ambassadors as guides to lead group visits to the "Estate Fire Safety Education Paths" in On Yam Estate, Kai Tin Estate and Tin Wan Estate.
The above promotional activities and work on fire safety education have produced satisfactory results. According to FSD's statistics, the number of fires within public housing estates dropped by 92 from 1,618 in 2004 to 1,526 in 2005, representing a decrease of 6 per cent.
Regarding the District Fire Safety Committees under HAD, they organise various publicity, educational and promotional activities on fire safety with FSD, the District Councils and district organisations in the 18 districts of the territory every year. In 2005, the District Fire Safety Committees organised a total of 241 fire safety activities, including fire drills held in collaboration with 108 private buildings, 26 fire safety talks, 15 fire safety exhibitions, 8 training courses and 84 other activities (such as fire safety carnivals, newsletters, visits, competitions, etc.), which attracted over 100,000 participants. It was hoped that through various forms of activities, fire prevention messages would be effectively conveyed to different sectors of society. In the past year, there was active participation in the fire safety activities by organisations and residents in the respective district, and the response was considered satisfactory.
Ends/Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Issued at HKT 15:44
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