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MANY HOUSING facilities for construction workers in Dubai are being threatened with closure because they have substandard levels of fire safety.
According to reports, more than 400 hostels in the city have been warned by the public health department over poor fire and safety standards, including overcrowding in rooms. The hostels, a mixture of permanent blocks and temp-orary accommodation, are used to house low-wage labourers working on Dubai’s many construction projects.
Public health director Redha Salman was reported as saying that up to 40% of the 1,000 housing facilities in Dubai were not up to scratch.
Many of the hostels inspected by the authorities were found to have only minor violations and have been given ‘six-month to one-year probations’ to rectify the shortcomings.
The crackdown comes after 11 Asian labourers died in a hostel fire on 26 August. It is thought that the building housed about 800 workers, with up to 20 people sharing individual rooms. The fire is believed to have been caused by a faulty cooking stove.
As Fire Risk Management went to press, the police investigation was exploring whether the leaseholders had been illegally subletting the building and had extended the structure without permission. Reports suggested that wooden panelling had been used to create a second floor and dividers separated living spaces, but that these modifications were unsafe.
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