Enterprises in Vietnam must organize annual fire fighting drills

1. Enterprises must organize annual fire drills

According to Point a Clause 2 Article 21 of the Decree No. 79/2014/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, heads of facilities are responsible for formulating firefighting plans using the forces and vehicles under their management (hereinafter referred to as grassroots firefighting plans).

According to Point a Clause 4 Article 21 of the Decree No. 79/2014/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, every firefighting plan formulated in accordance with Point a Clause 2 of this Article shall be practiced at least once per year. Irregular practice shall be conducted on request.

Concurrently, according to Clause 4 Article 12 of the Circular No. 66/2014/TT-BCA of the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam:

Article 12. Fire fighting plans

…

4. Fire fighting plan practice

a) The fire fighting plans by facilities as defined in Clause 2, Article 21 of the Decree No.79/2014/NĐ-CP must be developed for regular practice. Number of practices shall be decided by a competent person who develops the fire fighting plan but shall not be less than once a year; the fire fighting plan can be developed into one or more different situations but ensures all the situations in the plan are practiced;

…

c) The fire fighting plan shall be put into unexpected practice in the preparation for special political, cultural and social events at local or national levels at the request of the competent person who approves the fire fighting plan according to the provisions set out in Clause 3 of this Article.

Thus, according to the above provisions, the head of the enterprise shall organize the formulation of the grassroots fire fighting plan for the enterprise. This fire fighting plan is managed at the facility and sent to the local fire prevention and fighting police unit. Every year, the enterprise must conduct the practice of fire fighting plan at least once a year, and can practice irregularly at the request of the competent authority.

2. Penalties for not organizing the practice of fire fighting plans

According to Point b Clause 4 Article 39 of the Decree No. 167/2013/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, if the enterprise does not organize the practice of fire fighting plan, the enterprise will be administratively sanctioned specifically as follows:

4. A fine of between VND 2,000,000 and 5,000,000 shall be imposed for one of the acts as follows:

a) Failing to prepare the fire extinguishment plan;

b) Failing to organize the practice of fire extinguishment plan.

Note: The fine level specified in Chapter II of Decree 167 is the fine level applied to an individual's administrative violation. For organizations with the same violations, the fine level is 02 (two) times the fine level for individuals.

Thus, for enterprises, when they do not organize the practice of fire fighting plans, they will be fined 02 (two) times the fine level as prescribed above, with a fine ranging from 4 to 10 million VND.

Duc Thao

>> CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE IN VIETNAMESE