Answer:
- The safety conditions on fire prevention and fighting that are required of enterprise’s head-office
Pursuant to the Law on Fire Prevention and Fighting which is guided by Decree 136/2020/NĐ-CP of Government, offices building of enterprise with at least 5 floors and capacity of at least 1,500 m3 fall into the category of premises under police management.[1] Accordingly, premises under police management must satisfy the following conditions on fire prevention and fighting as follows:[2]
- Having internal regulations, banning signs, warning signs, layouts or guiding signs on fire prevention and fighting, exit routes, which are appropriate for the technical regulation, standards on fire prevention and fighting or according to the regulations of the Ministry of Public Security;
- Having basic and specialised fire prevention and fighting personnel corresponding to the type of premises who are trained on fire prevention and fighting duties, and are put in ready status to fight against fire on the spot as prescribed, except for the case where electrical substations operated automatically having the automatic fire prevention and fighting systems which are connected, displays, alert to fire incidents to the supervisory authorities and having the system for management of databases on fire prevention and fighting and incident reporting to Police authorities of fire prevention and fighting;
- Having a firefighting plan approved by the competent State authority;
- Electrical system, lightning and static electricity prevention systems, equipment using electricity, generating flame or heat, the use of flame or heat sources must ensure fire safety on fire prevention and fighting in accordance with regulations and standards on fire prevention and fighting or regulations of the Ministry of Public Security;
- Having traffic route, water supply and communication systems to serve firefighting purposes, the system for management of database on fire prevention and fighting, incident reporting, the system of fire alarming, firefighting, fire prevention, smoke prevention, exit routes, other fire prevention and fighting means, rescuing means which the quantity and quality are ensured to be in accordance with the technical regulations and standards on fire prevention and fighting or the regulations of the Ministry of Public Security; and
- Having a certificate of design appraisal and acceptance and design appraisal and acceptance document (if any) issued by fire prevention and fighting police departments for projects and works listed in the categories in Appendix V enclosed with this Decree, excluding national defence facilities operating for military purpose and motor vehicles subject to special requirements on fire prevention and fighting manufactured or converted for the military purpose by national defence facilities.
Therefore, the enterprise’s office building with at least 5 floors or a capacity of at least 1,500 m3 must ensure the safety conditions on fire prevention and fighting as above.
2. Does fire prevention and fighting responsibility belong to the building owner or the enterprise leasing the head office?
In fact, when leasing offices as the workplace, many enterprises misunderstand that building owners will be responsible for obtaining necessary certificates on satisfying safety conditions on fire prevention and fighting from the competent State authorities as well as for other fire prevention and fighting responsibilities as above.
However, any enterprise that leases a head office in a building with at least 05 floors or with the capacity of at least 1,500 m3 should note that, when the building has finished constructing, the building owner will only be responsible for satisfying the safety conditions on fire prevention and fighting at the time the construction of the building is finished (it is only an empty building since no one has leased by then). When the building is leased as the enterprise’s head-office, the actual layout of each floor will be changed due to the rearrangement of working rooms, meeting rooms, arrangement of system, working areas, reception, and entertainment areas. Therefore, each enterprise must have its own fire prevention and fighting system in accordance with the construction design of the building, specifically:
- The design of fire prevention and fighting system proposed by the enterprise must be approved and confirmed by the building owner that is aligned with the building’s general fire prevention and fighting system before it is constructed by the enterprise.
- After an enterprise has finished the construction of its own fire prevention and fighting system, the enterprise or the enterprise’s contractor will cooperate with the building owner to invite the competent fire prevention and fighting police to the building to inspect the system before they issue the certificate, official dispatch on the satisfaction of the fire prevention and fighting requirements. If the fire prevention and fighting police approve the fire prevention and fighting system of the enterprise, they will issue the certificate, official dispatch as prescribed by law; if not, they will require repairs or rearrangements until the fire prevention and fighting requirements are satisfied; then the fire prevention and fighting police will come to the office again to have the final inspection before issuing the certificate to the enterprise.
Therefore, any enterprise that leases head office in buildings with at least 05 floors and the capacity of at least 1,500 m3 should note to construct their own fire prevention and fighting system besides the building’s general system, and cooperate with the enterprise’ contractor and the building owner to obtain necessary certificates from the competent State authority.
[1] Section 8, Appendix III of Decree 136/2020/ND-CP of the Government dated 24 November 2020
[2] Article 5 of Decree 136/2020/ND-CP of the Government dated 24 November 2020
