NA Vice President Nguyễn Thị Thanh addresses the session. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — At its sixth session on Friday, the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee debated switching fire safety focus from pre-inspection to post-inspection measures.

Pre-inspection fire safety measures are preparations by building owners, managers or inspectors to ensure compliance and reduce risk before an evaluation, while post-inspection steps are follow-up actions, documentation and solutions to fix problems and maintain safety after the assessment.

Senior Lieutenant General Lê Văn Tuyến, deputy minister of public security, presented a report on a draft law amending several articles of the Law on Management and Use of Weapons, Explosive Materials and Support Tools and the Law on Fire Prevention, Firefighting and Rescue.

Tuyến said the shift to a post-inspection focus is expected to reduce compliance time and costs while facilitating citizens and businesses and ensuring State management of weapons, explosive materials and support tools, as well as fire prevention, firefighting and rescue.

Lê Tấn Tới, chairman of the NA Committee for National Defence, Security and External Relations, said the committee stressed the need to clearly define the responsibilities of heads of establishments, household heads and vehicle owners in complying with approved fire safety designs and maintaining fire safety requirements for buildings and vehicles already in use.

The committee also proposed clearly defining the legal responsibilities of investors, building owners and vehicle owners, as well as competency standards for independent consultants conducting acceptance inspections, to minimise risks of fire and explosion.

Nguyễn Đắc Vinh, chairman of the NA Committee for Cultural and Social Affairs, raised concerns about shifting from pre-inspection to post-inspection measures for fire safety, particularly for densely populated apartment buildings and high-rise residential buildings, where safety must be ensured from the outset.

NA Vice President Nguyễn Thị Thanh called for a thorough review of the relationship between pre-inspection and post-inspection policies in fire safety, with a proposed approach under which investors, building owners and vehicle owners would organise inspections themselves.

“Transferring responsibility to investors does not mean that State management agencies no longer have responsibilities,” she said, adding that authorities should instead adopt risk-based management, classify buildings according to fire and explosion risks and use data to focus inspection resources on high-risk areas.

According to Thanh, the law should clearly stipulate responsibility for maintaining fire safety throughout the operation and use of buildings. In practice, some buildings that initially met safety requirements later underwent changes in use, renovation, expansion or modifications to fire prevention and firefighting systems, reducing their safety. — VNS