“There is a high likelihood that the heater was either already on or switched on during the events of the morning of 05 September 2018, and that this resulted in the flammable material, in the vicinity of the heater, igniting, where after the fire spread to the rest of the Bank of Lisbon Building.”
The report also found that there was failure by three provincial government departments – health, human settlements, and cooperative governance and traditional affairs – to ensure that firefighting equipment was working.
“Failure by the departments... to have the firefighting equipment which was available in good condition and operational in this high building with a number of employees and to enable dispatched fire fighting personnel to execute their duties without failure.
"Failure by the departments... to have a risk assessment that will address the risk the departments are exposing their employees and clients to on a daily basis,” the report said.
“According to the expert report, a fire suppression system was not installed in the offices occupied by the tenant departments. It is apparent that the tenant departments did not conduct the risk assessment, which could have identified the non-compliance and brought it to the attention of the landlord. The risk assessment would have rated the fire risk as life-threatening and recommended remedies for the Bank of Lisbon building for the safety of their employees and clients.
“The report [by Harris Nupen Molebatsi Attorneys] makes reference to fire hoses in the building that were dysfunctional in the sense that when activated, no water flowed. The investigation did not appear to seek to establish the cause of this and we are accordingly not able to comment on the potential liability of any employee for this malfunction.
It further found that “the conditions from fire and heat and not following the prescribed fire fighting standard operating procedures resulted in the fatal injuries” of the firefighters.
DA provincial shadow MEC for health Jack Bloom said the report was not formally tabled in the legislature and needs to be and must be accompanied by the necessary annexures.
“If this is [what] the report [found], then it speaks to possible criminal sanctions against an official and the police have taken nearly five years without providing a report into the incident.
“I don’t know why it is taking the police so long to provide a report into its investigation.
“There was clearly negligence. None of the departments did a risk assessment of the building. The report clearly indicates that this could have been prevented if departments did their part. The three men who died in that building would still be alive,” said Bloom.
The report recommended that the departments must ensure that “their buildings are complying with fire safety, especially in the circulating allusion that buildings built prior to certain years do not have certificates of occupancy from their local municipality”.
If further said emergency services must ensure that radios are provided and maintained on their fire engines.
sibiyan@sowetan.co.za
Bank of Lisbon blaze: Litany of failures led to the inferno
Report highlights flouted safety laws, leading to death of three firefighters
Image: Thapelo Morebudi
The building was a high-risk fire hazard but no safety checks were done before government employees moved in.
No fire extinguishers were installed. Water hoses did not work. When a blaze sparked by an office heater engulfed the iconic Bank of Lisbon, firefighters went in blindly, with no strategy and not a single radio to communicate with those outside.
This is the litany of failures that led to an inferno that killed three firefighters – Simphiwe Moropane, 28, Mduduzi Ndlovu, 40, and Khathutshelo Muedi, 37 – in downtown Johannesburg five years ago.
The report compiled by the office of premier Panyaza Lesufi, which includes among others records from the department of labour and an expert, found that the crew deployed to the scene on September 5 2018 went into the building without discussing how they would fight the blaze.
The fire broke out on the 23rd floor, which was occupied by the department of health.
“The fire engines did not have radios for external communication with the control room and/or the crew members that went into the building if assistance was sought. The radios formed the key component in the rescue missions,” the report reads in part.
"The crew went into the building without discussing an approach of fighting the blaze, which is the process of analysing the risk and tactical approach.
“The City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services members deployed at the Bank of Lisbon building have been found to have contravened the general safety regulation 2(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act in that they failed to discuss the task-based risk assessment before going into the building to ensure that the task is executed with no or less risk.”
The report states that flammable material in the surrounding area of the heater, such as files and toilet paper, caught alight and spread.
Delay in reports into cause of fire that killed three firefighters in 2018
“There is a high likelihood that the heater was either already on or switched on during the events of the morning of 05 September 2018, and that this resulted in the flammable material, in the vicinity of the heater, igniting, where after the fire spread to the rest of the Bank of Lisbon Building.”
The report also found that there was failure by three provincial government departments – health, human settlements, and cooperative governance and traditional affairs – to ensure that firefighting equipment was working.
“Failure by the departments... to have the firefighting equipment which was available in good condition and operational in this high building with a number of employees and to enable dispatched fire fighting personnel to execute their duties without failure.
"Failure by the departments... to have a risk assessment that will address the risk the departments are exposing their employees and clients to on a daily basis,” the report said.
“According to the expert report, a fire suppression system was not installed in the offices occupied by the tenant departments. It is apparent that the tenant departments did not conduct the risk assessment, which could have identified the non-compliance and brought it to the attention of the landlord. The risk assessment would have rated the fire risk as life-threatening and recommended remedies for the Bank of Lisbon building for the safety of their employees and clients.
“The report [by Harris Nupen Molebatsi Attorneys] makes reference to fire hoses in the building that were dysfunctional in the sense that when activated, no water flowed. The investigation did not appear to seek to establish the cause of this and we are accordingly not able to comment on the potential liability of any employee for this malfunction.
It further found that “the conditions from fire and heat and not following the prescribed fire fighting standard operating procedures resulted in the fatal injuries” of the firefighters.
DA provincial shadow MEC for health Jack Bloom said the report was not formally tabled in the legislature and needs to be and must be accompanied by the necessary annexures.
“If this is [what] the report [found], then it speaks to possible criminal sanctions against an official and the police have taken nearly five years without providing a report into the incident.
“I don’t know why it is taking the police so long to provide a report into its investigation.
“There was clearly negligence. None of the departments did a risk assessment of the building. The report clearly indicates that this could have been prevented if departments did their part. The three men who died in that building would still be alive,” said Bloom.
The report recommended that the departments must ensure that “their buildings are complying with fire safety, especially in the circulating allusion that buildings built prior to certain years do not have certificates of occupancy from their local municipality”.
If further said emergency services must ensure that radios are provided and maintained on their fire engines.
sibiyan@sowetan.co.za
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