Deficient safety audit failed to prevent devastating fire at Joburg hospital
19 July 2021
A fire safety audit was last done at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Hospital in October 2017 but failed to pick up key deficiencies that could have prevented the devastating fire on 16 April this year.
Details of this audit are given by Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.
According to Mokgethi, this audit was done by Bigen Africa but “was not comprehensive as it did not identify the deficiencies that were highlighted by the City of Johannesburg and the appointed fire engineer by the Department of Infrastructure Development such as fire rational plan, fire doors etc.”
[Note: Bigen Africa has refuted this claim, saying it did not conduct such an audit. Their statement can be read here.]