Soon, tenants in the UAE will face penalties for non-compliance of their responsibilities in ensuring fire safety in their buildings. Tenancy contracts will have to spell out roles and responsibilities of tenants and make them accountable for ensuring fire safety in their apartments and villas.Violations and their penalties will also have to be specified to reduce fire accidents due to human errors and negligence, senior officials said on the sidelines of an international conference held last week in Dubai.
The move will follow the implementation of the updated version of the UAE’s Fire and Life Safety Code of Practices, which is expected to come into force from the beginning of 2017.
The code will have a new chapter on responsibilities of all stakeholders with regard to fire safety and will make them accountable for their roles, First Lt Tahir Hassan Al Taher, head of Inspection and Permitting at Dubai Civil Defence, said at the fourth International Conference on Quality Assurance for Sustainable Construction Materials held in Dubai last week.
The extended list of stakeholders will include developers, consultants, owners, tenants, facility management, school management and hospital management. With human error being the main cause of fires in the UAE, he said, the code will put the onus on everyone, including tenants, for the first time, to keep their homes safe from fires and other safety hazards. To spread awareness on this, rental contracts will have to specify safety rules and tenants’ roles and responsibilities in complying with them, Lt Col Jamal Ahmad Ebrahim, Director of Preventive Safety Department at the General Directorate of Dubai Civil Defence, said. Previously, he said, most of the fines for violations related to fire safety in residential buildings were only linked to the owners and their licences. But now authorities will look into the role of tenants as well.
