THE Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) has undertaken a comprehensive review and strengthened its fire prevention systems, operational contingency plans, and disaster resilience infrastructure across all three mills.
Sugar Minister Charan Jeath Singh informed Parliament on Friday that these improvements were made in response to the lessons learned from the fire incident at Rarawai Mill in September.
“I wish to remind this August House that we are dealing with a 140-year-old infrastructure,” Mr Singh said.
“Many of these technologies are long obsolete, and without continuous maintenance and modernisation, the risk of failure incidents will always remain.
“These measures are being implemented at both the corporate and mill levels, ensuring that all facilities operate under unified safety risk management and disaster preparedness framework that aligns with local industrial standards.
“At the corporate level, the risk management unit now leads a co-ordinated organisation-wide approach to strengthen disaster resilience and fire preparedness across all the mills.
“This includes conducting routine risk assessments and hazard identification, particularly in high-risk zones, implementing stricter control on hot work permits to minimise ignition risk, introducing a standardised incident register to record all incidents, investigations and corruptible actions for accountability and learning, and integrating fire safety upgrades into FSC’s capital expenditure program, beginning with the monetisation of diesel fire pump and other safety critical infrastructure at Rarawai Mill.”
He said these measures would ensure a consistent safety framework was maintained across all FSC operations.
Mr Singh said the FSC had taken significant steps to strengthen fire prevention, operational safety and disaster resilience across all three mills, drawing on elements of international industrial safety standards.
“Mills are equipped with dedicated fire porter network, electric and diesel powered pumps and strategically positioned hydrants and extinguishers,” he said.
