Securing the constitutional right to protection of life, health and property is one of the state’s first duties. It requires a properly functioning civil security system, including adequate fire safety and fire prevention mechanisms.
Recently the number of fires and of people harmed by them has been rising in the country. The chart below shows the number of fires and ignitions, and the number of people killed and injured by fires, in 2010–2017.
According to the statistics, more than 85% of material damage comes from fires in buildings. An effective fire safety system in buildings is therefore decisive for preventing fires and dealing with them at an early stage. The chart below summarises the number of buildings destroyed and damaged in Georgia in 2016–2017 and the damage caused by building fires.
A new regulation in force from 1 January 2018 tasked the Emergency Management Service with fire safety checks of all public buildings: educational, childcare, sports, medical and entertainment buildings, hypermarkets, clubs and leisure centres, hotels, buildings belonging to state and municipal authorities, and production, industrial, warehouse, commercial and other buildings. Residential homes are not on this list, although according to fire statistics for 2016–2018, 70% of building fires occur in residential homes. On 1 February 2019 the State Audit Office published a report examining how well the Emergency Management Service’s fire safety inspections ensure that sites meet fire safety requirements.
The State Audit Office’s report shows that fire safety requirements were not met at the great majority of supervised sites, and that the rate at which the Service’s recommendations were carried out was low. Specifically, according to detailed inspections in the first half of 2018, only 1 of the 226 sites inspected had no fire safety violations and received no recommendations. According to follow-up inspections in the same period, recommendations from previous years had been fully carried out at only 14% of sites.
In 2017 and the first half of 2018, the power to fine sites was not used properly. In the first half of 2018, 50% of inspected sites with violations were not fined, and 21% of those fined had not paid. As the Audit Office itself states in its report, the Service has no mechanisms in place to monitor payment of fines.
