20240408 No toxic gas from fire: Nan Ya
Taiwan Apr 08 2024 “Factories”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
No toxic gas from fire: Nan Ya
Updated: 2024-04-08
Smoke from a fire that broke out at Nan Ya Plastics Corp’s plant in New Taipei City’s Taishan District is pictured yesterday.
Photo: Tung Kuan-yi, Taipei Times
Nan Ya Plastics Corp yesterday said that no toxic gas was released following a fire that broke out earlier in the day at its plant in New Taipei City’s Taishan District (泰山).
Nan Ya said in a news release that the raw materials housed in the five-floor building only produced nontoxic substances such as carbon dioxide after combustion.
The damaged materials included 100 tonnes of polypropylene and 200 tonnes of cast polypropylene film, resulting in financial losses of NT$14.3 million (US$446,080), the company said.
Previously, the New Taipei Environmental Protection Bureau issued a warning for residents of Linkou (林口), Taishan, Wugu (五股), Sanchong (三重) and Sinjhuang (新莊) districts, as well as Taoyuan’s Guishan District (龜山), in response to the fire that broke out at about 2am at the facility on Nanlin Road.
Residents in parts of New Taipei City and Taoyuan were urged to close their windows and wear masks outdoors due to possible pollutants stemming from the overnight fire.
The city’s fire department said that the blaze broke out on the fifth floor of a reinforced concrete building in the plant complex and burned an area of 2,857 square meters before being brought under control at 3:30am.
There were no reports of deaths or injuries from the fire, the cause of which is to be investigated, Nan Ya said.
During an early morning visit to the site, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said firefighters had controlled the blaze in a building that contained about 300 tonnes of raw materials, but had not extinguished it.
The Environmental Protection Bureau said air quality readings taken downwind of the fire yesterday morning had not detected any spikes in particulate pollution, but it nevertheless urged precautions due to the possibility of a foul smell and pollutants reaching those areas before the fire was extinguished.
Usually, in school fires, an investigation focuses on the scene, the cause and disaster prevention systems. The first two are the responsibility of local fire departments, while the disaster prevention system is the university’s.
In terms of disaster prevention, the three main problems in disaster prevention at universities are unclear governance and responsibilities, inadequate capacity and insufficient resources.
Regarding disaster prevention responsibilities on campus, universities fall under the Ministry of Education, which has no affiliation with local governments. The ministry’s Higher Education Department is in charge of all university affairs, but that excludes disaster prevention on campuses.
Preventing disasters at universities is dependent on self-governance and the degree to which the university president takes the issue seriously.
Universities’ capacity to prevent disasters needs to be improved. As they are classified as non-profit organizations, they have been crying poor for years, while insufficient personnel and budgets directly or indirectly lead to shortages of disaster-prevention resources.
Companies and factories can count on local fire or labor departments, but university labs can must fend for themselves.
Furthermore, disaster prevention systems at universities are under-resourced. Universities specialize in academic progress, not disaster prevention.
To ensure safety, most universities establish centers of environmental protection and occupational safety and health to manage labs.
However, besides short-staffing issues, universities lack expert knowledge on disaster prevention. Also, because the safety centers are units of the institution, they are not supervised by an independent body.
Disaster prevention on campus is an important issue, but it is difficult to improve unless universities receive external supervision and support.
The fire at Dong Hwa provides an entry point to review disaster prevention systems at universities. The reason for a complete fire investigation is not to provide accountability, but to prevent problems from happening again.
If the focus is on accountability, the investigation might be hindered, making it difficult to determine the truth and implement preventive measures.
Moreover, the report indicates that the problems are not limited to the Hualien institution, but affect the university system nationwide.
Yang Yung-nane is a professor of political science at National Cheng Kung University and an adviser to the Tainan City Government’s disaster prevention advisory committee.
Translated by Chien Yan-ru
Web Source Taipei Times
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2024/04/08/2003816118