Take immediate corrective maintenance after fire occurence, says academician

JOHOR BARU: Corrective maintenance should be carried out as quickly as possible when a fire occurs in the building, said an academician.
University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Faculty of Electrical Engineering (Academic) deputy dean Prof Ir Dr Mohd Wazir Mustafa said prompt action should be taken by the Sultanah Aminah Hospital (HSA) and the operating concessionaire to detect problems that occured, such as claims three small fires had occured in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) before the big fire on Tuesday.
"Due to previous signs (three small fires in ICU), immediate action should be taken in advance by the inspection team on the causes of sparks occuring.
"In particular for wiring that is more than 10 to 15 years in existence," he told Bernama here.
Mohd Wazir said this when commenting on a news report in an English daily yesterday which said three fires had occured at the hospital's ICU before the incident that killed six critically ill patients in the ward.
The three fires were reported to have occured once in September as well as on Oct 15 and Oct 16.
The news report, quoting sources, said the focus of the investigation was likely to lead to the maintenance of the wiring system following the three small fires before this.
The question that arises was whether the three fires were connected with the big fire which claimed six lives.
According to Mohd Wazir, under the standard operating procedures (SOP), the two steps that needed to be taken are from the aspects of preventive maintenance and corrective maintenance.
The academician said corrective maintenance meant that if any damage occured, corrective action or correcting the system involved must be taken immediately while preventive measure entailed inspections from time to time in accordance with standards set.
Mohd Wazir, who has over 25 years experience in electricity engineering, said buildings that are more sensitive in terms of applications and functions such as hospitals needed more regular care and to be added value every time it attained a certain period.
"A hospital building must have an established building maintenance team as it has all kinds of sensitive equipment.
"In addition, the budget or provision for maintance and upgrading for a certain period should also be there," he added.
Yesterday Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam announced that the HSA main building would be closed temporarily in stages to enable safety insecption works, including wiring, structure and related matters, to be carried out.
Over 400 patients being treated at the building and HSA staff would be moved to the Permai Hospital and Sultan Ismail Hospital (HSI).
In the fire at about 9am Tuesday at the South ICU ward, six critical patients died while one patient was saved. Two nurses and a physiotherapy trainer at the ward injured while rescuing the patients were now being treated at HSI. — Bernama