Law, Ethics, and Globalisation - Civil Defense Services in the UK and UAE - Coursework Example

CIVIL DEFENCE SERVICES (FIRE SAFETY) IN UK AND UAE (Name) (Institution) (Course) (Instructor) 9th May 2009 Introduction Most major cities in the world are growing at an alarming rate hence there is need for the emergency services to grow as well. Therefore these major cities for example in the United Kingdom (UK), and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are expanding their Civil Defense and stations across the cities that can enable response to any emergency at any time. The UAE prefers using the United States of America standards in the national fire authority while the engineers is the same countries use the UK standards in the regulatory reform system and the fire rescue services (Act 2004) in delivering their services. The UK adopts the regulatory reforms for fire safety order 2005. According to the UAE, Abu Dhabi civil defense control unit, the civil defense mission “ensures the protection of people and public and private, property, guarantees the normal functioning of communications and transport, and ensuring the continuity of social activities in public premises. It also establishes a means of confronting disaster and limitation of its results which includes systematic activities for prevention, planning, education, preparedness, response and handling of its consequences regardless the measure is taken before, during and after the said disaster.” The current trends of wild fires, terrorism, industrial and even residential fire outbreaks requires that the civil defense unit develop a strategic plans that offers rescue operations that is able to implement best practices possible. Consequently, they should set targets of achieving the best response time, develop an increased preparedness of fighting stations and also ensure that water projects are safe and running all the time in the cities. In addition, there is need to develop air rescue services and modern firefighting skills too the civil defense staff all over the stations. This paper discusses critical case study of issues related to the civil defense services in the United Arab Emirate (Abu Dhabi) and the United Kingdom (UK). The fire and rescue service is the only organized group of citizens situated in-line with the communities throughout the nation trained and equipped to counter the disasters. They respond to all hazards ranging from earthquakes, tornadoes and floods to acts of terrorism, hazardous materials, fires and medical emergencies. The fire and rescue services department are placed under different legislative and administrative in the United Kingdom. Devolution of the central government powers has brought about changes and legislation in the wake of terrorist attacks. The fire and safety rules and regulations are delivered through the fire safety order of 2005. The guiding force to these legislations the safety factors in the business, community and industrial premises. It continue stating that there ought to be a competent personnel to execute the fire risk assessment, implement the appropriate fire precautions and observe fire protection measures while observing fire management plans. Through the fire rescue authorities, they have the constitutional responsibility to enforce the necessities of the fire legislation and this is achieved by frequent visits and inspections of the fire facilities alongside the rescue services. Fire and rescue service has a mandate to educate the community at large by helping them and advising about the fire safety issues, fitting free alarms systems, providing educational materials like DVDs and frequent home safety checks. The United Kingdom has applied set of laws concerning fire prevention in accordance with existing international norms and on the prevention of fire risks in private and public premises. The new federal law concerning the control of radioactive resources and the deterrence of risks arising from their use has also been adopted and the handling of dangerous materials and toxic waste has been drafted. In addition the fire and rescue services act of 2004 there was need for emergency disaster plan for every organization to have an emergency and disaster plan as a way of reducing the impact on the society and those who may be affected by the aftermath of fire breakout. It’s legal and morally upright to safeguard people from any type of damages. Also it protects the company’s economy and jobs as no property will be destroyed by fire rendering a big loss to the company. In latest years globalization has turn out to be a major polarizing issue. it has brought with it some effects for example the immigration of people to the urban centers in search of jobs and this has resulted to the mushrooming of the slums which makes it difficult for the fire brigade to assist the dwellers in time of the fire breakouts. In addition to that, the raising number of population signals for the government to change the policies in order to cater for the rising population (Cabinet Office/DTLR 2002). It has been observed that planning was an exclusive responsibility of the qualified planners. But the perception have drastically changed and even it’s evident in the wider spatial planning approach and remit in funding arrangements for planning through provision of direct financial support for greater focus on implementation and integration of the region-level policy. Such changes results to better legislative to guide the firemen in fire fighting and rescue services. The improved learning skills are geared up in boosting up productivity. Skills deficiency has been a persistent barrier to the employment performance, economic and social aspects. However the need for better co-ordination of the learning skills policy is recognized as part of the economic strategies for proper policies. The United Arab Emirates has applied regulations concerning fire prevention in accordance with existing global standards on the basis of government decision. There has been formulation of fire and disaster act “154 of 1991” on the prevention of fire risks in private and public premises. The new federal law concerning the control of radioactive resources and the prevention of risks arising from their use has also been adopted. Regulations concerning the handling of dangerous materials and toxic waste have been drafted. In the United Kingdom, the fire and the rescue departments operates under separate legislative and administrative policies in different towns. There has been overhaul change on the laws that govern the fire and rescue services. Terrorism attacks and threats have raised the need to empower and change the laws that govern the rescue teams in United Kingdom. Going by the history in United Kingdom, the fire and rescue services were not formulated nationally but every town has its own policies in relation to fire and rescue services. The up laws have placed the fire related laws at the heart of Legislation by creating new duties to support fire safety and rescue services (Don C, 2003). With time the United Kingdom authorities have formulated acts that state that “fire and rescue authorities powers to work with other partners in the community to deliver duty” the act has been effective to legislative as other roles are being formulated. The cat also give the rescue team and department power to plan, prepare and act upon local tragedies and priorities. A fire and rescue service act 2004 has over time offered effective authoritative power to the national framework the secretary of state in time to time require giving reports on it progresses. There are a number of section of the fire and reuse act that have helped in enforcing duties in the department. The secretary of state in united kingdom is require to keep current and report the proceeding of the body with the aim of achieving public safety and the efficiency effective and proper usage of funds set aside for the department which is clearly stipulated under section 21 of the rescue and fire act. Proper and regular consultation is required before the secretary of state does the revision of the report. Under section 22 of the act it empowers the secretary of state in the intervention in cases where it is felt that the rescue and fire team is not performing as per the department standards. The framework of the department requires that the set goals and obligations are met and progresses in areas set out are met. The powers are expected to be used as the last resort measure. The secretary of state is requiring publishing and consulting intervention act under section 23 of the fire and rescue services act. Setion24 of the act requires that the local government under act- 1999 is given power to audit and inspect the proceedings under an electro commission. Section 25 requires the Secretary of State to account to legislative body on the degree to which fire and rescue authorities are performing in agreement with the structure, and any steps taken by him to ensure they do (David T, 1998) The biggest number of risks on fire is the aged people at home while 60 % suffer from domestic accidental fires. The rest of the categories of groups of people who are prone to fire risks are young children and the small ethic groups in the society. It has over time been had in both UAE and United Kingdom to reach the minority groups due a number of reasons. The government from both leaderships can only reach to this group if the groups are based on a good knowledge of their characteristics and basics, and good use of face to face communication, local community and the media. Communicating to the society of risks and calamities can be done through community advocates. Safeway Integrated Systems are used in Abu Dhabi as it has been rated as the leading provider of Fire, Safety and Security Systems for the United Arab Emirates providing protection to countless family, retail, business and industrial premises, government establishments, financial institutions, airports, ports and embassies. Community and fire safety policy is communicated by a number of ways .The government is supposed to organise some training programmes and courses on a number of issues related to the places on fire risk and preventions ways. The programs are supposed to concentrate on fire fighting, rescue, use of various gadgets, handling of explosives, the management of the operations, the control of disaster areas and the mastery of destructive weapons. Case Study: Abu Dhabi Fire in an apartment block According to the culture and society news on 20th September 2008, a massive fire gutted down an apartments 18th floor of a nine storey building in Elecrica Street in Abu Dhabi. Tenants were uninformed of the fire which broke out in the evening in the 30 year old apartment block that was not equipped with fir alarm. Fire fires struggled to put off the fire so as to save the residents who had been hiding on the rooftop of the building (Andy, 2008). It was confirmed by the civil defense officials that they had managed to save the residents who were trapped on the 18th floor. Other people who were trapped on top of the building were airlifted from the rooftop to safety as fire fighters fought the fierceful fires for hours. Although the civil defense claimed to have used two helicopters in the process, the civilians asked themselves why there was no any of the large ladder vehicles in the emergency services in the United Arab Emirates. It was also reported that no body died during the incident ut there were dozens of people who sustained serious injuries and were hospitalized suffering from smoke inhalation in various hospitals in Abu Dhabi (Mariam, 2008) It was also confirmed that poor maintenance of the building was blamed for the blaze. Many old residential blocks in the emirates are poorly maintained. According to Mushtaque Rangwala, a civil engineer who visited the building, said "The building is very old and not equipped with the proper fire safety unit. The fire happened due to the illegal wooden partitions inside the apartment. Every building should have a fire alarm system, a fire hose and a smoke detector. It is very important for buildings to be maintained on a yearly basis," Ethical Impact of new civil defence stations better equipped to deal with emergencies. When the civil defense stations are better equipped, then it is in a better place to serve the residents of s particular nation. It is critical to better equip the civil defense stations since there has been an increase in fire catastrophes in major cities in the world. For instance an emergency call for fire over a long distance region requires faster means of transport in order to fight fire. Setting up of better fire fighting facilities is essential since the human population is said to be on the increase which implies that human household will tend to be high. Therefore there is need and urgency to equip the fire stations with large-scale emergencies, routine rescue and reliable fire and ambulance calls. Ethically, in order for the civil service to be better equipped to deal with emergencies, then corporation between the members of the public and the civil defense team is important. There partnership will enable the civil service to respond effectively in times of crisis. It is crucial for the public to be educated of the importance of the siren system through public awareness programmes and also there is importance of informing the member s of the public of the importance of acting promptly and knowingly when sirens sound. Therefore, the civil defense needs to install and purchase modern sirens system that is able to facilitate adequate warnings to the residents (Don, 2003). On the other hand, ethics requires that the public and the civil service should develop positive attitude and perception towards the civil defense in any nation. This will ensure that the authority is in readiness at any time whenever called upon to fight fire at any place within the nation. There attitude of the public can also lead to some people undergoing civil defense and emergency training courses, the civil awareness and education are crucial in building a strong national and civil defense system which aims at protecting and defending it’s population during times of disasters. For example Singapore has been lucky since it has been free from large-scale crises. Yet the public domain has not been contented since they do appreciate the need for civil defense preparedness. It can be quoted from Commissioner James Tan of Singapore that “The more we prepare as a matter of course, the better prepared we will react to emergencies.” Comparison between the UK and Abu Dhabi The UK has a higher population than that of the United Arab Emirate More industries are located in the UK than in Abu Dhabi in UAE The UK has a larger and more modernized fire station all over as compared to Abu Dhabi in the UAE According to the community fire safety law report, it was recorded that in Abu Dhabi there were five deaths which occurred in a huge explosion that ripped through a ware house that store illegal fireworks. Few deaths have been recorded in the UK as a result of fire The UK ensures that home industry fire are reduced by carrying out free home safety checks and have established policy whose responsibility is for general fire safety in all non domestic premises including common parts of blocks of flats and houses in multiple occupation. On the other hand Abu Dhabi ensures home industry fire is reduced by owing to cultural considerations such as burning of ‘oud’ and the purchase and setting up of smoke detectors is not regarded as practical. Conclusion The governments in the UK, United Arab Emirates and the rest of the world need to ensure that their respective civil defense services implement the following policies. The civil defense service should establish a central information and operation control centre that operates 24 hours and should be connected with a single call number Improve the training programmes for the civil defenses There is also need to build up the civil defense with additional undeviating staff. This also can be reinforced by ensuring that there are more volunteers in service provision There is need to supply new warning systems that covers a large area Required is acquisition of new equipments and the establishment of new system of logistics Therefore, it is the duty of the civil defense staff to ensure that they perform humanitarian tasks that is aimed at defending the civilian population from threats of fires and other dangers. They also have a mandate to help the civilians recover from the immediate effects of disasters and also provide condition that are necessary for their survival. The civil defense force is organized by the establishments of civil defense units in all urban areas and other regions in the world. Reference: Mariam M. A, (2008), The nation Abu Dhabi: Nation press. Andy S (2008), Rooftop residents rescued from Abu Dhabi fire, Abu Dhabi: Culture and society press service Don, C. (2003), On the Plate-Emergency management Wellington: Wellington city council press. Cabinet Office/DTLR (2002), “Your Region, Your Choice”: Revitalizing the English Regions C5511 Norwich: The Stationary Office. David T (1998) “Laws and authority on risk management” NY: North Yorkshire fire and rescue Service Information on siren system in the Napier government www.napier.govt retrieved on 8th May 2008 Information on fire and rescue national framework www.fitting-in.com Data retrieved on Friday 8th 2009. Information on general civic defence directorate www.gdocd.gov.ae Data retrieved on Thursday 7th 2009. Read More