‘Workers had zero training’: Indonesian police investigating deadly factory blaze blame safety violations
The building housed more than 4,000kg of combustible materials, making it all too easy for the fire to rip through the factory within minutes, killing 49 workers
Police investigating a fire that killed nearly 50 people at a fireworks factory on the outskirts of Jakarta late last month have found multiple safety violations at the plant, which was crammed with three times the number of workers allowed.
One of Indonesia’s worst industrial disasters, the October 26 blaze in the congested industrial suburb of Tangerang, has cast a new spotlight on lax safety standards in Indonesia, where rules are often ignored or weakly enforced.
Interviews with police investigators, government officials and survivors show that at the time of the fire, the factory was overcrowded, had only one exit, and a single mid-sized fire extinguisher even though it had reported having four on site.
The building housed more than 4,000kg of combustible materials in various locations, which, police say, made it all too easy for the fire to rip through the 2,600 square metre factory within minutes, killing 49 workers and injuring dozens more.
It was total panic and the fire was quickly out of control. The workers had zero training in how to respond in an emergency
Survivors said they had not had any emergency training or drills, and were not familiar with evacuation routes. Police spokesman Argo Yuwono said there was no indication anyone had tried to use the fire extinguisher.