Building safer communities

Tuan Khiruddin delivering his talk

A seminar titled “Disaster Risk Reduction: Building Safer and Resilient Communities” was held on 25 November 2015 at UTAR Sungai Long Campus. The objective of the seminar was to enlighten the participants on basic knowledge on managing crises and emergency management.

Founding President of the Institution of Fire Engineers (UK) Malaysia and former Director General of Fire and Rescue Department Datuk Dr Soh Chai Hock and Fire and Rescue Department Director Tuan Khiruddin Bin Drahman shared with the attendees Malaysians’ experiences in transforming crises into achievements.

“Nearly 50 to 80 people perish in fire-related cases and approximately 15,000 to 20,000 fire incidences occur throughout the country on a yearly basis. The causes are due to lack of fire awareness; locked, barred, or blocked exit doors; ignorance of alternative escape routes; unattainable escape routes due to smoke logging; and inadequate number, size or design of escape routes,” Tuan Hiruddin said.

He educated the audience on the concept of KL city 4E’s approach, which are Engineering, Education, Enforcement, and Emergency response.

“There is a wide variety of hazard, risk and decision analysis tools and techniques that can be applied to high-rise buildings, starting at the feasibility or conceptual planning phase, as well as various stages of design and construction, and throughout the life span of the building. For example, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Event Tree Analysis (ETA), Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), and Fire Safety Fact Sheet (FSFS) are crucial tools which require special attention in designing and planning,” he explained.

He also stressed that strong discipline and stakeholder’s engagement are vital to the success in regulating fire safety. Discipline must be enforced with consistency and fairness to win the trust and gain efficiency for the common good of the nation.

Datuk Dr Soh briefed the participants on the Emergency Response Planning (ERP), an overall strategic plan that has integrated the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), Incident Action Plan (IAP), and Incident Command System (ICS).

“The first responders are usually the local communities present before the emergency services arrive at the scene. Therefore, building a community emergency response team and educating them on the basic essentials are crucial to mitigating disasters. Train until you do it right, retrain until you cannot do it wrong,” he advised.

This seminar was organised by UTAR Centre for Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSDCSR).

CSDCSR Chairperson, Dr Mohammad Falahat Nejadmahani (right) presenting a gift to Tuan Khiruddin (left) as Datuk Dr Soh (centre) looks on