WRITTEN QUESTION E-2735/01

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(5 October 2001)

Subject: Blocking of escape routes in tall buildings and lack of information for potential victims

1. Is the Commission aware that when fire breaks out in buildings which are visited by large numbers of people, particularly in the entertainment industry, many people often die because the escape routes indicated in accordance with fire regulations are closed, both to keep out intruders and to enable the escape routes to be used as storage space?

2. What view does the Commission take of the fact that cases still occur in which, in tall buildings which are used as offices or hotels, doors affording access to the indicated escape routes via stairways are kept locked using keys which are not to hand, so that only the lifts can be used?

3. When people complain about the situation referred to at 2, they are often reassured with the information that escape routes are kept closed in agreement with the local fire brigade and that doors will open automatically if they are needed. Is this information correct?

4. Do doors open automatically, as referred to at 3, even if the energy supply, and hence communication with the storeys in question, fails?

5. How can users and potential victims themselves check whether the locks will really open if necessary or whether they are running the risk of being burnt alive because escape routes are inadequate?

6. Are there any differences in the extent to which the various EU Member States enforce fire safety and the provision of properly accessible escape routes? What is the nature of these differences?

7. What improvements with regard to escape routes need to be implemented in the EU Member States, and what is the Commission doing to promote them?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(3 December 2001)

The matter of the accessibility of escape routes in buildings which are visited by large numbers of people, to which the Honourable Member referred, applies to a very large number (probably running into tens or hundreds of thousands) and variety of establishments across the Community.

There is no related Community legislation. Verification of compliance with national or local provisions is entirely the responsibility of the Member States and of the authorities and bodies competent to act at different levels in this field. Consequently, the Commission does not have the information requested, nor does it have access to this kind of information in general.

On the specific matter of fire safety in hotels, the Council adopted a recommendation in 1985 laying down a number of guidelines. The Commission recently sent a report on the application of this recommendation to the Parliament and Council(1). The report summarises all the information that the Commission has on the matter and presents plans for measures to improve fire safety in hotels. The Honourable Member is invited to refer to the report in question.

(1) Report from the Commission on application of the Council Recommendation of 22 December 1986 on fire safety in existing hotels (86/666/EEC) COM final (2001) 348.