Labor coalition urges gov’t to conduct nationwide mall inspection

The moments before the fire gutted down the New City Commercial Center (NCCC) in Davao City will remain etched in the mind of Lloyd Angeles, one of the survivors who escaped death by a whisker. (PCOO PHOTO)

The Labor Coalition Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Sunday once again called the attention of the government to conduct a fire safety audit of shopping malls nationwide following several fire incidents that have put the lives of employees and mall-goers at risk.

TUCP President Raymond Mendoza urged the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) to execute a widespread mall inspection in the country to prevent massive fire incidents.

“It is outrageous to see another fire incident taking place in Metro Ayala mall and Gaisano mall in Cebu City when just 15 days ago 38 workers perished in NCCC Mall fire in Davao City,” Mendoza said in a statement.

After the deadly fire incident in New City Commercial Center (NCCC) mall in Davao City that blazed 38 workers to death, another massive fire hit the Metro Ayala Center Cebu at the Cebu Business Park today, January 8. According to the management of Metro Gaisano, the smoke started at the 3rd floor of the toys stockroom. As of press time, no injuries have been reported.

Mendoza believed that the incidents are not “isolated” and that a widespread violation of fire-safety standards for a safe workplace was committed by the mall owners.

“There is a widespread violation of malls owners to fire-safety standards and compromise the safety of mall goers and well-being of mall workers to cut costs and make bigger profit for themselves. The ongoing Metro Ayala Mall…and the NCCC Mall fires are symptoms of the wanton disregard of department-store owners to go around our building safety laws and ignore workplace policy on workers’ health and safety,” the labor President said.

“We have to find out other malls nationwide how safe or how fire-risks these are,” Mendoza added.

Meanwhile, TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said that the execution of fire safety audits in malls are important considering that it is the place for work, recreation, and business.

“[Malls] have become very important places in the community, but how safe [are] our malls in the light of the recent fatal [fires]?” Tanjusay said in a statement.

Earlier, TUCP also called the attention of DOLE to conduct strong inspections in workplaces and to remove call centers from malls, saying it should have its own, separate, and independent buildings in connection to the NCCC mall fire incident.

“Inspection must now be strong. Meaning, violation of labor general and occupational safety and health standards at first instance must be treated with strong and harsh punishment,” Tanjusay said in a statement.

“Call center employees are not commodities and goods that can be consigned to a warehouse converted as work area” he added.