Quality of life and fires at plastic factories
When people choose a place to live, they generally look to two criteria to aid their decision-making: a home in a residential neighbourhood, and one that is also in close proximity to places of work, such as industrial estates.
In consequence of this rationale, more residential areas have become intermixed with industrial sites: Sathupradit, Rama II, Phetkasem, Lat Krabang, Samrong, Samut Prakan, Krathum Baen and Samut Sakhon, for example.
Industrial sites are high-risk by nature.
Many industries work with raw materials and products that can be harmful not only to the environment, but also to public health and property. Risks may include toxic chemicals, industrial waste, and the hazards of fire in the industrial production process, or in the fuel used to run production.
Plastics factories are especially vulnerable. In 2013 and 2014, fires at such factories were a regular occurrence: at a Krathum Baen plastics factory in December 2013; at a Pathum Thani auto-parts plant in May 2014; and at a Samut Sakhon rubber-mat factory, also in May.
More recently, toxic fumes from a severe fire at a Rama II-area plastic-cup factory in November led to the evacuation of residential communities in the immediate area.
From a legal perspective, laws and regulations have been issued to minimise this type of risk and can be found in the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, the Town Planning Regulations, the Factory Act BE 2535, and the Building Control Act BE 2522.
The Factory Act, for example, sets standards for factory design as well as fire-safety measures, especially for plastics factories.
The Building Control Act regulates fire-safety standards and the compulsory installation of fire-protection systems inside factory buildings. Standards of factory inspection are also prescribed.
Despite legal and regulatory measures, risks of factory fires have not minimised. Laws and regulations are not implemented vigilantly.
In addition, there are no principles in land-use planning and no preventative or monitoring measures that can contribute towards better modes of fire prevention.
There is an urgent need to synchronise the various laws and regulations, each of which falls under the jurisdiction of a different government agency, in order to make them work.
We wish to see a long-term relocation programme that rezones factories, separating them from residential neighbourhoods so that people’s quality of life is improved and their health and properties made secure.
In the meantime, we hope the country’s current administrators, most of whom are from the disciplined military professions, will help improve laws and regulations that lead to truly effective changes to better the quality of life and ensure the safety of Thai lives.
Associate Professor Cdr TRAIWAT VIRYASIRI RTN, Architectural Laws & Regulations Research Unit, Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University
