Goa fire services one of three in country to get ISO certification: CM Pramod Sawant

PANAJI: Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Friday directed all the government departments to try for ISO certification to run the departments on international standards.
He said that the directorate of fire and emergency services saved Rs 165 crore property last year and around Rs 81 crore property was gutted in fire. Sawant said that more personnel will be recruited in fire services.
“Government departments can get ISO certification and for that all departments should try to get ISO certification to bring discipline in the functioning of departments,” the chief minister said at an event to mark the National Fire Day, adding that the directorate of fire and emergency services is one among three fire and emergency services in the country to get the ISO and occupational health certifications.
The chief minister handed over the ISO certificates to the director of Fire and Emergency Services Nitin V Raiker.
Sawant said that the government will provide equipment and vehicles required for the functioning of the department of fire services. He said that over 3,200 fire calls were attended by the fire services and 3,955 non fire emergency calls were attended to. “Totally over 7,200 calls were received in 2022,” he said.
The chief minister said that even if Goans don’t make fake calls for fire, nine fake calls were received by the directorate. “People should not do this and no one should make hoax calls to the directorate,” he said.
Sawant said that 10 human lives were lost due to fire incidents in the state last year. He also said that 115 lives were lost in various other incidents and 55 animals lost their lives.
“We have saved seven persons from various incidents,” Sawant said.
The chief minister said that total property worth Rs 165 crore was saved in the state in various fire incidents, while Rs 81 crore worth property was lost in fire incidents in the state. “I have mentioned these figures because if we take some precautions to avoid fire then we can save property and life,” he said.
On Berger paint factory fire and forest fires, Sawant said fire services officers worked 24x7 to save human lives and forest properties.
Referring to the Union home ministry’s recognition of the Goa directorate of fire and emergency services as a regional training centre, the chief minister said that it is a proud moment for the state.
General manager, Progressive Management Consultants, Sheetal Wader, congratulated the department for getting internationally certified for their preparedness for quality management and occupational health and safety preparedness ie ISO 9001 and ISO 45001.
Raiker in his speech informed about the various training initiatives carried out by the department in 2022-23 in basic fire safety and evacuation drill, safer school safer India and disaster preparedness and fire safety training, under the training of trainers programme. He said that the department has developed an Automated Dynamic Live Calls and Statistical Dashboard as a part of populating a set of reports for fire and emergency incidents attended along with summary reports, which will help the department in understanding the requirement of resources depending on the type of incidents arising across the state.