Preparing for Full Recovery of Daily Life... Fire Agency Focuses on Fire Prevention in Late-Night Businesses

Fire Safety Inspection Conducted at Multi-Use Facilities

The National Fire Agency announced on the 13th that, with the easing of COVID-19 measures such as the lifting of the indoor mask mandate leading to an increase in visitors to multi-use facilities, it will carry out proactive preventive activities including fire safety inspections targeting multi-use facilities operating during fire-vulnerable hours (late night).

According to data from the National Fire Information System, a total of 2,368 fires occurred in multi-use facilities over the past five years (2018?2022), resulting in an average of 5 deaths and 57 injuries annually.

Due to the impact of COVID-19, the number of closed or suspended businesses increased in 2021, causing the number of fires to decrease by nearly half (50.3%) compared to the previous year. However, with the lifting of social distancing measures in 2022 and the increase in visitors to multi-use facilities, fires have shown an upward trend again.

This fire safety inspection will be conducted over five weeks from March 8 to April 11. The inspection targets are four types of multi-use facilities that ▲operate during fire-vulnerable hours (late night), ▲have multiple rooms partitioned within the business premises, and ▲have complex evacuation routes, selected considering aging and risk levels by city and province.

For businesses that operate only during nighttime hours due to their nature, inspection times will be adjusted through prior consultation with stakeholders to avoid disruption to operations. The inspection will focus on the maintenance and management status of emergency exits (including fall prevention facilities and evacuation equipment) and evacuation routes to identify illegal or hazardous factors, while safety consulting will be conducted simultaneously to enable immediate improvement and action.

The main inspection items include ▲checking for closure or locking of emergency exits and obstacles placed on evacuation stairs and passageways ▲confirming the proper maintenance and management of fall prevention safety facilities and evacuation equipment installed at balcony (annex room)-type emergency exits, as well as other major fire safety facilities ▲and verifying whether multi-use facility owners comply with their mandatory obligations.

Additionally, under the '2023 Multi-use Facility Safety Management Plan,' the National Fire Agency plans to conduct additional joint fire safety inspections with related agencies covering architecture, electricity, gas, and food hygiene in the second half of this year for fire-vulnerable multi-use facilities (entertainment bars), considering aging and risk levels.

Park Seong-yeol, Head of Fire Prevention at the National Fire Agency, stated, “With the recent lifting of indoor mask mandates and the shift from remote to face-to-face work and classes, the world is recovering to pre-COVID-19 conditions.” He added, “Through this inspection, we will do our best to prevent safety accidents in advance by identifying and improving blind spots so that everyone can safely use multi-use facilities.”