MNO2603 Assignment 3
Semester 2 2024 - DUE 10
September 2024
[Company address]
, MNO2603 Assignment 3 Semester 2 2024 - DUE 10 September 2024
In Focus:
What the Charlotte Maxeke fire tells us about health and safety in Gauteng hospitals Just weeks
before a fire tore through parts of Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg on 16 April, a fire
safety audit at the hospital was signed off and in March a hospital fire and safety team met,
according to the Gauteng Department of Health. Yet Kwara Kekana, spokesperson for Gauteng
Health also confirmed in responses to questions from Spotlight that “the smoke doors are not
used as the magnetic system on the doors was no longer effective and they were
recommissioned”. Smoke doors are used to prevent the spread of smoke in a building when there
is a fire. She also confirmed that fire hydrant couplings were not compatible with the fire hoses
on Johannesburg Fire Service fire engines because “some had been stolen”. Spotlight has
requested, but not received a copy of the fire audit/ inspection report from the Gauteng Health
Department, the Department of Infrastructure and Development, and the City of Joburg’s Fire
Services. Fire compliance failures Two senior firefighters from the City of Johannesburg who
spoke to Spotlight, say the two failings (mentioned by Kekana above) alone would sink a basic
inspection or compliance audit. It was also not just the fire doors and the hydrant couplings that
were faulty at Charlotte Maxeke. They say firefighters were not given building and floor plans of
the hospital’s emergency exit plan when they arrived on the scene the day of the fire on April 16.
The emergency exit plan is essential for those needing to enter a burning building. Smoke
detection systems, fire alarms, sprinkler systems, and the mechanisms that would have triggered
the magnetic smoke doors were also not in working condition. There was also water flow and
low pressure to the hydrants besides non-compatible hose couplings. The two men asked to have
their identities withheld. MNO2603 ASSESSMENT 3 2024 6 The fire at Charlotte Maxeke
Hospital on 16 April marks the fourth in six years at public health facilities in Gauteng. In
February this year, a fire broke out at Carletonville Hospital, in May 2019 there was a fire at
Bheki Mlangeni Hospital in Soweto, and Tambo Memorial Hospital in Boksburg in May 2015.
The fire in September 2018 devastated a provincial health department’s head office in the Bank
of Lisbon building in the Joburg inner city. That blaze claimed the lives of three firefighters.
“These are politicians, they are telling lies and doing cover-ups – they must show you that
Semester 2 2024 - DUE 10
September 2024
[Company address]
, MNO2603 Assignment 3 Semester 2 2024 - DUE 10 September 2024
In Focus:
What the Charlotte Maxeke fire tells us about health and safety in Gauteng hospitals Just weeks
before a fire tore through parts of Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg on 16 April, a fire
safety audit at the hospital was signed off and in March a hospital fire and safety team met,
according to the Gauteng Department of Health. Yet Kwara Kekana, spokesperson for Gauteng
Health also confirmed in responses to questions from Spotlight that “the smoke doors are not
used as the magnetic system on the doors was no longer effective and they were
recommissioned”. Smoke doors are used to prevent the spread of smoke in a building when there
is a fire. She also confirmed that fire hydrant couplings were not compatible with the fire hoses
on Johannesburg Fire Service fire engines because “some had been stolen”. Spotlight has
requested, but not received a copy of the fire audit/ inspection report from the Gauteng Health
Department, the Department of Infrastructure and Development, and the City of Joburg’s Fire
Services. Fire compliance failures Two senior firefighters from the City of Johannesburg who
spoke to Spotlight, say the two failings (mentioned by Kekana above) alone would sink a basic
inspection or compliance audit. It was also not just the fire doors and the hydrant couplings that
were faulty at Charlotte Maxeke. They say firefighters were not given building and floor plans of
the hospital’s emergency exit plan when they arrived on the scene the day of the fire on April 16.
The emergency exit plan is essential for those needing to enter a burning building. Smoke
detection systems, fire alarms, sprinkler systems, and the mechanisms that would have triggered
the magnetic smoke doors were also not in working condition. There was also water flow and
low pressure to the hydrants besides non-compatible hose couplings. The two men asked to have
their identities withheld. MNO2603 ASSESSMENT 3 2024 6 The fire at Charlotte Maxeke
Hospital on 16 April marks the fourth in six years at public health facilities in Gauteng. In
February this year, a fire broke out at Carletonville Hospital, in May 2019 there was a fire at
Bheki Mlangeni Hospital in Soweto, and Tambo Memorial Hospital in Boksburg in May 2015.
The fire in September 2018 devastated a provincial health department’s head office in the Bank
of Lisbon building in the Joburg inner city. That blaze claimed the lives of three firefighters.
“These are politicians, they are telling lies and doing cover-ups – they must show you that
