From my observations and experience in the Middle East, I have noted three main causes of fires at residences especially at workers camps and I had written on this earlier also. First is the Air con. Most air cons at workers camps are running 24/7 and nobody cares to have them serviced periodically. Since the rooms are shared among several people every one thinks "its not my job and why should I pay from my pocket?" The workers also do not find the time to do so. Companies do not bother either. Second comes the Exhaust Fans which are usually installed in kitchens or the toilets. These fans rotate on a ball bearing and all ball bearings have a fixed life. I have seen even apartments where these fans run non-stop the whole year round. A point comes when the bearing eventually seize. The fan stops working and with power still flowing in, the motor gradually heats up leading to a fire breaking out. All these take place simply due to the absence of something called "preventive maintenance." The third reason is cooking inside their rooms. Most workers are housed in camps that are simply nothing but portable cabins. Due to absence of cooking facilities elsewhere in camps or the sheer laziness of not using one even if they are available, a slight carelessness leads to fires. I just hope people wake up and carry out these minor but very important actions and not just wait for anything disastrous to happen that just cause pain and misery and sufferings and loss to property and sometimes loss of precious lives.
The government should bring in regulations that could force companies or camp owners to carry out a mandatory replacement of exhaust fans say every year along with the servicing of all Air cons regularly at such camps.
From my observations and experience in the Middle East, I have noted three main causes of fires at residences especially at workers camps and I had written on this earlier also. First is the Air con. Most air cons at workers camps are running 24/7 and nobody cares to have them serviced periodically. Since the rooms are shared among several people every one thinks "its not my job and why should I pay from my pocket?" The workers also do not find the time to do so. Companies do not bother either. Second comes the Exhaust Fans which are usually installed in kitchens or the toilets. These fans rotate on a ball bearing and all ball bearings have a fixed life. I have seen even apartments where these fans run non-stop the whole year round. A point comes when the bearing eventually seize. The fan stops working and with power still flowing in, the motor gradually heats up leading to a fire breaking out. All these take place simply due to the absence of something called "preventive maintenance." The third reason is cooking inside their rooms. Most workers are housed in camps that are simply nothing but portable cabins. Due to absence of cooking facilities elsewhere in camps or the sheer laziness of not using one even if they are available, a slight carelessness leads to fires. I just hope people wake up and carry out these minor but very important actions and not just wait for anything disastrous to happen that just cause pain and misery and sufferings and loss to property and sometimes loss of precious lives.
The government should bring in regulations that could force companies or camp owners to carry out a mandatory replacement of exhaust fans say every year along with the servicing of all Air cons regularly at such camps.