The magnificent Engineering Building is almost finished. The builders are busy with the last phase of the building. In preparation to hand the building over to the University for use, the builders requested to conduct a fire training for some essential staff – Safety, Health and Environmental (SHE) Officer, two staff members from the Faculty of Engineering’s Department of Electrical Engineering, Maintenance department, and staff from Protection Services.
Lizwi Masondo, SHE Officer at MUT, said the staff members were expected to then give training to other staff members. Masondo singled out Protection Services as most essential “as they are guarding the University 24 hours. They will need to be able to deal with emergency situations all the time,” he said.
Fire technician Sunil Majlis impress upon the staff members the importance of complying with fire regulations to keep everyone safe. Majlis took staff members through some crucial areas. One of these was the fire alert system. Majlis demonstrated how the system works, and how to reset it after it went off because of fire and smoke.
Masondo said it was important that staff learnt about the systems as they are the custodians of the building, and that they will need to look after the system and teach others how to use it when the need arises. Majlis said the system must be serviced every six months, and has to be tested every week. All agreed that the timing for testing should be such that staff and students are not alarmed.
Staff were also shown how to reset the call point, and how to use the refuge phone. The refuge phone is an emergency phone when one is stranded. It is placed at a position that can be reached by everyone, including people with disabilities.
Masondo said that he was satisfied with the steps taken to secure the building from fire, in terms of the existing warning mechanisms, and plans to train more staff members. Masondo added that at some point the fire plan for the new building would be added to the general University safety plan.