Mandatory precautionary measures for high-rises

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chapter XVII of the Kerala Municipality Building Rules, 1999, includes the following safety provisions for high-rise buildings.   According to the Rules, ‘a high rise building means a building having more than four floors and or 15 metres of height’. Of late, numerous high-rise buildings have sprouted in the capital city, most of them constructed as residential apartment complexes. And hardly any of these buildings have the mandatory precautionary measures.“The owners of high-rise buildings install safety equipments in their buildings only for the purpose of availing a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Fire and Rescue Service officials who turn up for inspection.  Once the NOC is obtained, they conveniently forget about proper maintenance of these equipments as the Rule does not say about further periodic inspections. Some even go to the extent of customising the building plan according to their needs without permission,” says Dileep, a Fire and Rescue Service officer.  Safety specifications for high-rises and big buildings: Fire escape stairwayEvery high-rise building shall be provided with a fire escape stairway.  Fire escape stairway shall be directly connected  with public or common areas on all floors and shall lead directly to the ground.At least one side of the stairway shall be an external wall either with large openings or with break-open glass to facilitate rescue operations during an emergency.StaircaseEvery high-rise building shall have at least two staircases. Guard rails or parapets Every slab or balcony overlooking any exterior or interior open space which are two metres or more below shall be provided with parapet walls or guard rails of height not less than 1.20 metres and such guard rails shall be firmly fixed to the walls and slabs.DuctsEvery opening provided to ducts from the interior of a building shall be closed with strong materials.AccessThe width of access to a high-rise building and plot as well as the width of the street giving access to the plot from the main street shall be seven metres or as prescribed elsewhere in these Rules, whichever is higher.LiftEvery high-rise apartment building having more than 16 dwelling units shall be provided with at least one lift capable of carrying a stretcher.