THE Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has issued a two-week ultimatum to institutions operating in the country to acquire valid fire safety certificates or risk closure.
Accordingly, a national task force is to be set up to enforce the directive, with defaulting institutions standing the risk of being closed down and prosecuted.
The measure, according to the acting Chief Fire Officer (CFO), Mr Albert Brown Gaisie, formed part of a campaign to ensure that institutions adopted measures to observe fire safety standards in and around their premises.
Giving an update on the programmes and activities of the service for 2011 in Accra yesterday, Mr Gaisie recalled the Fire Precaution (Premises) Regulations established under Legislative Instrument (LI) 1724 of 2003 which empowered the GNFS to prosecute persons and organisations that failed to observe fire safety regulations.
“The LI makes provision for the GNFS to advise the incorporation of fire defence systems on premises but most institutions ignore the law with impunity,” he said.
In a strongly worded caution to recalcitrant institutions, Mr Gaisie served notice that the service would, from this year, get tough on those who fell foul of the regulations, stressing that his office would not compromise on its resolve to deal with those organisations that continued to ignore fire safety precautions.
The GNFS, he pointed out, as part of its mandate, had the duty to save lives and property and called on members of the public to support the campaign effort to accomplish the mission of observing fire safety precautions.
He, however, urged institutions to be on the look out for persons impersonating personnel of the service who went round extorting money from unsuspecting organisations under the pretext of issuing them with fire certificates.
Similarly, he cautioned staff members who were engaged in the habit of extorting money from people under the guise of securing them jobs, in view of the upcoming recruitment exercise into the service, to desist from that, as he would not hesitate to dismiss those indisciplined staff members.
On the promotion of 1,943 junior officers, he said at a meeting of the Fire Service Council, it was decided that officers who had passed the last examination would be promoted to the appropriate ranks, with accompanying certificates to be issued to that effect on March 1, 2011.
He added that the council was also considering promoting other senior officers to the appropriate ranks and that the modalities to that effect were in place for the process to commence.
Turning to the acquisition of equipment for the service, Mr Gaisie announced that the government had facilitated an Exim Bank loan for the acquisition of 125 vehicles by the end of the year, among which were 10 water tankers, 13 recovery tanks, four service vehicles to manage accident cases and four aerial ladders to fight fire on high-rise buildings.
As part of a capacity-building programme to upgrade the skills of personnel, he said 30 staff members were billed for the US to attend various operational courses.
Accordingly, a national task force is to be set up to enforce the directive, with defaulting institutions standing the risk of being closed down and prosecuted.
The measure, according to the acting Chief Fire Officer (CFO), Mr Albert Brown Gaisie, formed part of a campaign to ensure that institutions adopted measures to observe fire safety standards in and around their premises.
Giving an update on the programmes and activities of the service for 2011 in Accra yesterday, Mr Gaisie recalled the Fire Precaution (Premises) Regulations established under Legislative Instrument (LI) 1724 of 2003 which empowered the GNFS to prosecute persons and organisations that failed to observe fire safety regulations.
“The LI makes provision for the GNFS to advise the incorporation of fire defence systems on premises but most institutions ignore the law with impunity,” he said.
In a strongly worded caution to recalcitrant institutions, Mr Gaisie served notice that the service would, from this year, get tough on those who fell foul of the regulations, stressing that his office would not compromise on its resolve to deal with those organisations that continued to ignore fire safety precautions.
The GNFS, he pointed out, as part of its mandate, had the duty to save lives and property and called on members of the public to support the campaign effort to accomplish the mission of observing fire safety precautions.
He, however, urged institutions to be on the look out for persons impersonating personnel of the service who went round extorting money from unsuspecting organisations under the pretext of issuing them with fire certificates.
Similarly, he cautioned staff members who were engaged in the habit of extorting money from people under the guise of securing them jobs, in view of the upcoming recruitment exercise into the service, to desist from that, as he would not hesitate to dismiss those indisciplined staff members.
On the promotion of 1,943 junior officers, he said at a meeting of the Fire Service Council, it was decided that officers who had passed the last examination would be promoted to the appropriate ranks, with accompanying certificates to be issued to that effect on March 1, 2011.
He added that the council was also considering promoting other senior officers to the appropriate ranks and that the modalities to that effect were in place for the process to commence.
Turning to the acquisition of equipment for the service, Mr Gaisie announced that the government had facilitated an Exim Bank loan for the acquisition of 125 vehicles by the end of the year, among which were 10 water tankers, 13 recovery tanks, four service vehicles to manage accident cases and four aerial ladders to fight fire on high-rise buildings.
As part of a capacity-building programme to upgrade the skills of personnel, he said 30 staff members were billed for the US to attend various operational courses.
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