To bring transparency in fire safety certification that can boost ease of doing business in Odisha, the state government has effected an amendment in the rules which now allows expert third-party agencies to carry out fire safety audits at commercial establishments twice a year.
As per the Odisha Fire Prevention and Fire Safety (Amendment) Rules, 2025, licenced agencies will conduct audits and examine whether fire prevention and safety measures are maintained as per rules before issuing fire safety certificates.
The new rules stipulate fire safety inspection by the expert agencies will be carried out twice a year in commercial establishments. For residential buildings, the certificate will be valid for one year.
This is in departure from the earlier norms which required inspection of commercial and residential buildings in two and five years respectively during the renewal of fire safety certificates. Due to long gaps in the inspection periods, it was difficult to ascertain if safety measures were fully operational in the commercial establishments and residential buildings which also enhanced risks of mishaps. The building owners too experienced hurdles during renewal of fire safety certificates.
Director General of Fire Services, Sudhansu Sarangi said the new rules would address the loopholes and simplify the process. “The state government has liberalised the fire safety regulations to enhance ease of doing business. We will now have third-party empaneled vendors to undertake fire prevention/safety measures and then carry out audits at commercial establishments twice a year,” he said. Once the vendors are engaged across the state, Sarangi said, Fire services directorate will scrutinise 2 per cent of the audits to ensure they are not abusing the system and fire safety is not compromised.
The amendment mandates that certificates generated by the licensed agencies will be uploaded on Fire department’s portal with a minimum of 20 photos as evidence of different stages of inspection. The department will also facilitate training programmes for the third-party vendors to ensure high standards are maintained during inspections and quality of audits is not impacted.
The Odisha Fire Prevention and Fire Safety (Amendment) Rules were introduced as part of the reforms mandated and monitored by the prime minister’s office (PMO) to improve the ease of doing business across the country. The state government’s objective is to make Odisha an attractive destination for investments and prevent harassment of establishment owners. The initiatives are being monitored by a group of officers under Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja.
