NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 29 – The National Disaster Management Unit (NDMU) and the Nairobi City County Fire Department have urged building and built infrastructure property owners to conduct regular safety drills to test their preparedness for eventualities.
Representatives from the two institutions said this at the conclusion of a series of safety drills across six properties owned by Qwetu Student Residences that house over 3,800 college and university students in Nairobi.
They reiterated that it is a legal requirement to undertake at least one fire and safety drill annually to test preparedness in the evet of fire emergencies, saying that additional drills in the course of a twelve-month period are an added advantage.
Speaking after the exercise, Cyrus Maina, Chief Administration Officer at NDMU said: “When we do these drills, we promote awareness: to the occupants, the members of the public, and even the responders. Another benefit is to check whether the systems and mechanisms, both internal and external, put in place are working. During the drills conducted at Qwetu, we got all occupants out within a specific amount of time. There were no injuries or other security-related issues,” he said.
On his part, Wilson Wanjiru, Leading Fireman at the Nairobi County Fire Department, reiterated the need for property owners to adhere to the law and conduct annual fire drills.
“It is a legal requirement to do fire drills. A fire drill, according to the law, including the Occupational Safety and Health Act, 2007 and Fire Risk Reduction Rules, 2007, state that a fire drill should be conducted at least once every 12 months. Training and fire safety awareness exercises are crucial to the success of these drills. I would like to thank the Qwetu management for initiating the fire drills in accordance with the law and ensuring that all relevant stakeholders are informed and aware,” he said.
The drills were staged over the past two weeks (January 17, 2022 – January 26, 2022) as part of Qwetu management’s commitment to ensure that all properties meet the highest safety standards and improve overall preparedness in response to emergencies.
