Tag Archives: lifestyle
Seven warehouses gutted in Sharjah
Seven warehouses gutted in Sharjah Afkar Abdullah / 13 August 2013 Huge amounts of thick black smoke billowed in the Sharjah sky on Monday morning after a massive fire completely gutted seven car and furniture warehouses, with eight firefighting teams from four emirates needed to control it. Eight firefighting teams from four emirates took part in the operation to put out the blaze in Sharjah on Monday. — KT photo by M. Sajjad Two workers suffered smoke inhalation, with one being treated on the scene and the second at Al Qasimi Hospital. No further injuries were reported but financial losses were incurred in the blaze, which hit old buildings in Sharjah Industrial Area Number 5. A Khaleej Times photographer said he saw about 100 cars out of a total of several hundred that appeared to be damaged as a result of the inferno, while nearby warehouses were evacuated and workers were told to leave the area due to the risk the fire would spread further. He saw about 50 firefighters and 30 police officers on the scene, handling the blaze. UAE Civil Defence Director-General Rashid Thani Al Matrooshi told Khaleej Times five firefighting teams from Sharjah, and one each from Dubai, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain were in attendance. He said the entire firefighting operation started about 10.30am and finished six hours later, at 4.30pm. Emergency services were still cooling down the area by 7.30pm. Sharjah Civil Defence Deputy Director Colonel Nasser Juma bin Hindi said the Civil Defence operations room was notified about the accident about 10.50am, with the fire spreading rapidly due to the huge amount of car tyres and other flammable materials stored at the warehouse. “Fire fighters immediately rushed to the fire site to douse the flames which spread to neighbouring warehouses and the rapid spread of the fire required the intervention of Dubai, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain Civil Defences in addition to water supplied by Sharjah Municipality to control the blaze.” The cause of the accident is being investigated by the Sharjah Police forensic laboratory, who were handed over the premises after the cooling process was completed. – afkarali@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Smitten more by drugs than bugs
Smitten more by drugs than bugs Afkar Abdullah / 13 August 2013 Come summer, bed bugs, cockroaches, ants, rodents and all sorts of unwanted guests decide to come calling, testing the nerves of people. While some residents ignore them and do not get bugged by them, the majority want to ‘finish them off’ instead of spending sleepless nights, but know not who will and how and when they can do it. For, master survivors as they are, it is not easy to ‘finish them off’ and they keep resurfacing a few months after each laborious pest control exercise. At times, one feels the whole world is conspiring to save these creatures as one could be prosecuted for manslaughter or negligence if the exercise goes horribly wrong as in the case of Iraqi girl Farah Ebrahim who died of pesticide poisoning in Sharjah on July 1 this year. Now, it has become a tussle between two types of fear: the fear of pests bugging us day in, day out and the fear of consequences like deaths of people, especially since the field of pest control has become a wilderness these days with illegal firms and individuals offering the service using chemicals which are hazardous and banned. Faced with pertinent questions about their role after a string of deaths and illnesses of people because of pest control over the years not only in the emirate but in other emirates as well, Sharjah authorities have intensified efforts to prevent pesticide poisoning and inform the public of their efforts. Speaking to Khaleej Times , Riyadh Al Alian, Deputy Director-General of the Sharjah Municipality, said 60 companies have been certified by the municipality to provide pest control services in the emirate. People must not hire the services of others. These companies, accredited and licensed by the municipality, are authorised to use only certain types of pesticides after ensuring that their employees are familiar with the methods of use and their dangers to human lives and environment. The municipality ensures these by enforcing certain regulations and standards on the pest control firms and by regular checks, he said. He added that all pesticides permitted for use are registered with the Ministry of Environment and Water. Restricted pesticides are used with permission and under certain conditions. However, unlicensed individuals use banned pesticides despite the best efforts to prevent their entry into the country, said Al Alian. These often lead to poisoning like the death of the Iraqi girl and the hospitalisation of her mother and brother after inhaling fumes of aluminium phosphide used in another flat in their building. What residents can do “I know all residents are worried because of the repetition of this type of accidents and many residents call the municipality and ask what is the municipality doing to prevent the entry of prohibited chemicals and exposing the people to harm. “The answer to this question is that there’s a list of companies licensed by the municipality to practise pest control. These companies are not using chemicals that are banned and restricted. The people must ask for the municipality licence before hiring a company to do pest control in their houses to avoid harm,” said Al Alian. People can also make sure that the company is using the permitted chemicals (See the table). If they find any banned chemicals, call the police who will seize the chemicals and prosecute the culprits, he added. And in case of suspected pesticide poisoning, immediately call the police and the paramedics. Dr Saqr Al Mualla, Executive Director of Al Qasimi Hospital, said, “Our team of professionals is frequently being updated on the cases and we are well prepared. We would like to stress that it is very important for those being affected by pesticides to immediately call the paramedics and police. The longer the patient waits, the higher the effects of these chemicals that can result in death.” Police efforts The police, meanwhile, said they are making all efforts, in coordination with the municipality and other authorities concerned and the public, to detect the places where prohibited chemicals which are used as pesticides are stored, a top officer said. Finding them and confirming the nature of the chemicals require a lot of research and inspections. The police also coordinate with the Customs authorities to prevent the entry of such chemicals into the country, though some still make an appearance. During recent inspections, the police found out that a lot of unlicensed and fake pest control companies were distributing business cards at flats in residential buildings offering the services. Their employees are illegals and absconders. Following the recently issued decree by His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and the Ruler of Sharjah, prohibiting distribution of posters and advertisements in the public and private areas, the police have intensified surveillance in all areas to curb such practice. More than 70 illegals practising distributing flyers and business cards in residential and commercial buildings were rounded up, the officer said. Individuals and companies that run such businesses of hire their services will be fined by the municipality and the police are authorised to prosecute them, he warned. Tough penalties The officer said the penalties for this type of violation are listed in the Federal Decree No. 41 for year 1992. This law lists the prohibited pesticides and provides that the trading, storing, possession, transportation and offering of these prohibited pesticides are forbidden. The breach of the law will attract a penalty of not more than six months’ imprisonment plus fines ranging from Dh20,000 to Dh100,000 If the breach of the law caused the death of a human being or health injury, Articles 342 and 343 of the penal code shall apply as under “mistakenly causing the death of a human being”, the penalty for which shall be imprisonment for not less than a year to not more than seven years and/or fine which would be around Dh10,000. – afkarali@khaleejtimes.com Norms for firms Following the last two cases of pesticide poisoning, the Sharjah Municipality has recently tightened the licensing procedures for companies offering pest control services. Under these, the company must first get a preliminary licence from the Economic Department for a period of three months, after which a Municipal Review will be conducted by the Department of Solid Waste. For this, the company must have a pest control engineer who has any of the following qualifications: Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Health, Bachelor of Agricultural Engineering, Bachelor of Chemical Engineering or a certificate to prove an equivalent qualification. The engineer will be subjected to a test. If the person passes the test, the company is given permission by the municipality to practise “anti-insect activity”. In the absence of such an engineer with the company, the company is given a temporary permit for a period of four months with the payment of an insurance amount, till it appoints a qualified engineer. afkarali@khaleejtimes.com List of permitted pesticides Pesticide Name Use/effects Icon Thermal fogging to combat flying insects (Flies like mosquitoes and Alhamosh sand flies) Vectron Tetra cipzapi Sprinkled to kill crawling insects and larvae and collect flying insects Proteocap Aquahelfos ABTE 500 EC Anti-mosquito larvae Mosquito dunks Growth regulator SOLFAC UL Sprayed to control flying insects Detral Suber GokiLath LF Snake out To expel snakes Racumin Powder Rodent control in the palm trees, sewage and other places NocuRat Wax Blocks Siege PRO Used against ants SOLFAC10% w/w passt Quick Bayt To fight flies Atlast Maxforce GEL To fight German cockroaches Continue reading
Nurseries must get nod for evening shift
Nurseries must get nod for evening shift Ahmed Shaaban / 12 August 2013 Nursery schools are not usually permitted to receive small children in the evening but a few exceptions have been allowed by the Ministry of Social Affairs. Moza Salem Al Shoomi, Director of the Child Department at the ministry, said some families had approached the ministry requesting nurseries to keep their young children till late in the evening. “All these applications are normally rejected, but some specific requests are allowed.” A nursery could never substitute a child’s own family who needed to take the responsibility and bring him or her up properly. “A child may not be kept away from his/her mother for over eight hours a day.” Al Shoomi said some requests for the same had been allowed, but only till 6pm, after being convinced of certain situations like the mother having to work late into the evening in a private institution. “However, the ministry’s approval is needed in advance, and the charges for the same may never exceed those paid in the morning shift according to the number of requested hours.” According to the set rules, all nurseries are only open from 7am to 2pm. “Of course, those given permission to receive young children in the evening may only be open till maximum 6pm.” “Also, no children above the age limit (five years) can be received in the evening period. “No activity other than the listed ones should be practised during the evening time, and the nursery building may only be used for the purpose it was built for. The nursery management shall be held responsible for all activities.” Al Shoomi warned that the evening permit issued for some nurseries would be revoked in case the management proved to have flouted the set conditions or been warned by the ministry inspectors. “All nurseries must be off on Fridays and Saturdays every week, and no nursery is allowed to take an extra day off,” she said, noting that it was very critical for all nurseries to abide by all official holidays and weekends. Meanwhile, the ministry issued a warning letter against a nursery and ordered it to be put under strict surveillance after a child was found to be harmed. “We have received 18 family complaints against nurseries in the first half of the year, and this reflects an increasing awareness among families of the nature of nurseries’ work.” She added that a little child had a hand broken while playing in one of the nurseries operating in the country this year. “Though the incident is normal, it has been one of the most harmful to young children at the nurseries here.” The complaints were mostly about the absence of headmistresses, failure to take due care of children, accepting children above the age limit, operating without a licence, charging of extra fees, expelling children for not paying fees, letting workers in during nursery hours and lack of competent cadre. “While the ministry issued licences for 29 new nurseries from January to June this year, 119 applications for opening new nurseries were rejected for not meeting the conditions.” – ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
