The fire that broke out during renovation work in a nightclub in the basement of a 16-story building in Istanbul's Beşiktaş district, killing 29 people and seriously injuring 1, has brought the issue of occupational health and safety back to the agenda.
Recording that even a very small spark can start a fire if there is a flammable environment, Head of Occupational Health and Safety Department Dr. Lecturer Rüştü Uçan said, “Once the fire started, it seemed to spread rapidly. But even so, some should have been able to escape through the back exit doors. It appears none here could escape.”
Occupational Health and Safety Expert Dr. Lecturer Nuri Bingöl stated that “A rapidly burning, easily ignitable, instantly flaming material might have turned the place into a hellish fireball,” and added that precautions should have been taken before starting renovation work and there were deficiencies in these measures.
Dr. Lecturer Rüştü Uçan, Head of Occupational Health and Safety Department at Üsküdar Üniversitesi Faculty of Health Sciences, and Occupational Health and Safety Expert Dr. Lecturer Nuri Bingöl evaluated the fire that occurred during renovation work in a nightclub in the basement of a 16-story building in Istanbul's Beşiktaş district, which resulted in 29 deaths and 1 serious injury, from an occupational health and safety perspective.
“We couldn't save 29 people in a sudden fire in an enclosed space; what if there were a thousand...”
Dr. Lecturer Rüştü Uçan, in his assessment at the scene, said, “Our condolences to everyone; it is indeed a very tragic event. We couldn't save 29 people in a sudden fire in an enclosed space. Think about it: when this place is very crowded, with 500 or a thousand people inside, if 29 people couldn't be evacuated, how would we evacuate a thousand people?”
Stating that the fire incident should be viewed from two angles, Dr. Lecturer Rüştü Uçan said, “Firstly, proactively. Preventing such an event before it happens... If there are problems with the exits of such establishments, they should be closed before an incident occurs. The main problem is, how many similar places do we have in Turkey? In Iraq, 143 people died in a fire during a wedding. We need to examine very well what we should do to prevent a similar incident here. This will serve as an example for us. I wish it hadn't happened.”
“Wasn't there even a fire extinguisher?”
Dr. Lecturer Rüştü Uçan, stating that inspectors would examine permits through documents regarding the incident, explained that this workplace, whatever its capacity, should have a structure capable of evacuating people in a very short time, 2-4 minutes, in such an event, and accordingly, there should be exit doors, and immediate evacuation should be possible at the moment of an incident.
Dr. Lecturer Rüştü Uçan, asking “It seems 30 people couldn't be evacuated here. Wasn't there a door elsewhere from where the fire started? We can't understand how it happened. It will come out with detailed investigations, but it appears they couldn't evacuate. Wasn't there even a fire extinguisher?”, added, “If you can't extinguish the fire within one or two minutes, it suddenly grows very large. There are highly flammable materials here. There's thinner. The flames might have grown rapidly. We don't know if there are evacuation corridors or not.”
Dr. Lecturer Rüştü Uçan stated that if the oxygen level in the renovation area was above normal, even a very small flame source could suddenly cause a flashover, preventing people from escaping, and said, “We might have encountered such a situation. That's an incident that can only be found through detailed investigation. So, it's not just flammable substances, but also materials for sound insulation. There are large electrical spotlights, cables. There's a lot of material suitable for burning. They couldn't do anything at the first moment, and it even seems that none of these people had any fire extinguishing knowledge. That is, no extinguishing effort could be made at the first moment.”
“Even a very small spark can start a fire”
Dr. Lecturer Rüştü Uçan, noting that even a very small spark can start a fire if there is a flammable environment, said, “Even turning on a phone can start it. If welding was being done here, that welding flame is enough to start the first fire spark. Indeed, once it started, it seemed to spread rapidly. But even so, some should have been able to escape through the back exit doors. It appears none here could escape. 29 people died.”
Dr. Lecturer Rüştü Uçan, also touching upon the possibility that escape routes might have been locked, said that expensive materials and electronic devices might have been locked due to fear of theft.
“There should be at least three escape routes. Unfortunately, there aren't. If there were, they were closed!”
Evaluating the presence of such a place beneath a 16-story building, Dr. Lecturer Rüştü Uçan said, “The absence of escape routes or the inadequacy of escape routes is a huge problem. There is no indication here that any evacuation work was done beforehand. There's nowhere for them to escape. They couldn't get out of the door.”
Dr. Lecturer Nuri Bingöl: “A material that suddenly caught fire might have turned the place into a fireball”
Occupational Health and Safety Expert Dr. Lecturer Nuri Bingöl, in his assessment on the subject, noted that the materials used during the renovation process became important in this fire, stating, “It is probable that some easily flammable or ignitable thinner-like materials may have been used. We use this assumption because they couldn't escape. Therefore, a rapidly burning, easily ignitable, instantly flaming material might have turned the place into a hellish fireball.”
“It resembles a fire that could break out in a chemical factory”
Dr. Lecturer Nuri Bingöl also stated that it resembled a fire that could break out in a chemical factory, and continued:
“We don't typically encounter such a rapidly growing fire in the basement of any building. The average growth rate of a fire takes two, two and a half minutes. Everyone can escape in two, two and a half minutes. As occupational safety specialists, we aim for two minutes in evacuation drills. We can make an estimation here from the workers' inability to escape and the flames and smoke suddenly engulfing the area. The workers' inability to exit through the escape route also suggests that they couldn't find the necessary second or third escape route, or perhaps they were locked. It's difficult to guess beyond that. The problem is; precautions should have been taken before starting these operations. I believe there were deficiencies in these precautions. In a disco or nightclub-style venue, there must be second and third fire doors, fire exits. Of course, to what extent did the workers know about these? Were these fire exits open? They might even have been locked to prevent theft of materials from inside. The number of people who die from fire itself is very small. Generally, you die from smoke inhalation.”
Is there a lack of inspection?
Dr. Lecturer Nuri Bingöl, noting the information that the building's license was renewed in 2018, but the fire report was obtained in 2016, said, “The fire report has been stagnant since 2016. No one has inspected or checked it from then until now. That's one of the main problems. I can't say anything definite, but it needs to be looked into. Sometimes we see that systems installed 3-5 years ago become dysfunctional because they haven't been inspected.”
Dr. Lecturer Nuri Bingöl also stated that a serious examination was needed there, adding, “One of the biggest problems here is that there should have been automatic fire extinguishing systems in such a place, even if it was under renovation. When a fire breaks out, they automatically douse it with water. The success rate is approximately 97 percent. So, it is very effective. Therefore, this building is a 16-story building. This should be mandatory in such a workplace. Expert reports will explain whether these systems were present or not, whether they were working or not, and if they were working, why they are not now.”