Fire Agency Promotes 'Fire Risk Assessment' for Unmanned Stores

Adjustment of Multi-Use Business Categories and System Improvement

The National Fire Agency announced on the 22nd that it will promote the "2023 Fire Risk Assessment for Multi-use Facilities" to proactively manage safety in new types of business establishments.

Previously, the National Fire Agency conducted a full survey of major unmanned stores (from December 14, 2022, to March 14, 2023). For new and emerging youth-harmful businesses such as room cafes, it obtained cooperation from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the supervising agency, to gather status data.

The "2023 Fire Risk Assessment for Multi-use Facilities" will be conducted over five months from August to December to provide rapid and professional safety management tailored to the business characteristics of multi-use facilities, where new industries frequently emerge and disappear due to social and economic conditions.

The targets include 200 locations across 16 types of multi-use facilities and 200 locations across 6 types of new business forms such as photo studios, laundries, ice cream shops, meal kit stores, and study cafes, including unmanned stores. Through comprehensive analysis and evaluation by industry type, efficient fire safety management measures will be sought.

The "Fire Risk Assessment" involves setting standards for designation or exclusion of multi-use businesses and installation of safety facilities, as well as predicting and analyzing from various perspectives the ▲likelihood of fire occurrence, ▲expected damage range caused by fire, and ▲impact on the surroundings to prepare countermeasures. It is classified into five grades from A to E.

Businesses judged safe with an A grade in the fire risk assessment may be excluded from designation as multi-use businesses or partially exempted from installing safety facilities, whereas new types of businesses judged dangerous with an E grade will be designated as multi-use businesses and regulated accordingly.

The National Fire Agency plans to utilize the results derived from the fire risk assessment for revising relevant laws and establishing fire prevention policies. In particular, if the evaluation results by industry are A grade or higher, the agency will consider excluding them from multi-use business designation or easing designation requirements to relax regulations. Conversely, new types of businesses receiving an E grade will be incorporated into multi-use businesses to strengthen safety management, promoting regulatory rationalization through selective focus.

Kwon Hyuk-min, Director of Fire Prevention at the National Fire Agency, stated, "We will strive to ensure that the interests of business owners and public safety go hand in hand through continuous regulatory rationalization via the fire risk assessment for multi-use facilities."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.