Thông tư 147/2020/TT-BCA

CIRCULAR

FIRE SAFETY AND RESCUE MEASURES FOR KARAOKE AND NIGHTCLUB ESTABLISHMENTS

Pursuant to Law on Fire Prevention and Firefighting dated June 29, 2001 and Law on amendments to Law on Fire Prevention and Firefighting dated November 22, 2013;

Pursuant to Decree No. 01/2018/ND-CP dated August 6, 2018 of the Government on functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Public Security;

Pursuant to Decree No. 103/2009/ND-CP dated November 06, 2009 of Government on cultural activities and provision of public cultural services;

Pursuant to Decree No. 96/2016/ND-CP dated July 01, 2016 of the Government on security, order conditions of conditional business lines;

Pursuant to Decree No. 83/2017/ND-CP dated July 18, 2017 of the Government on rescue operations of fire prevention and firefighting brigade; 

Pursuant to Decree No. 54/2019/ND-CP dated June 19, 2019 of the Government on karaoke and nightclub businesses;

Pursuant to Decree No.136/2020/ND-CP dated November 24, 2020 of the Government on elaborating to Law on Fire Prevention and Firefighting and Law on amendments to Law on Fire Prevention and Firefighting;

At request of Director General of Central Department of Fire safety, Firefighting, and Rescue;

Minister of Public Security promulgates Circular on fire safety and rescue measures for karaoke and nightclub establishments.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope

This Circular prescribes fire safety and rescue measures for karaoke and nightclub venues, including: Requirements for safety, design, design appraisal, inspection for acceptance, and distribution of fire prevention and firefighting resources; safety inspection regarding fire prevention, firefighting and rescue, and responsibilities of police authorities of local administrative divisions.

Article 2. Regulated entities

This Circular applies to:

1. Police authorities of local administrative divisions.

2. Enterprises and business households (hereinafter referred to as “establishments”) providing karaoke and/or nightclub services; other agencies, organizations, individuals related to fire prevention and firefighting of karaoke and nightclub establishments.

Article 3. Fire safety and rescue principles

1. Complying with Law on Fire Prevention and Firefighting, Law on amendments to Law on Fire Prevention and Firefighting and elaborating documents, this Circular and relevant law provisions.

2. Ensuring life, health and belongings of organizations and individuals involved in karaoke and nightclub services.

Article 4. Term interpretation

1. “floor area” refers to area of spaces enclosed in a room or storey, including area of ducts, elevator shafts, restrooms, stairwells, area occupied by interior, electronic appliances, fixed or mobile devices and outdoor, open area.

2. “service area” refers to total area of rooms used for karaoke and nightclub services. 

3. “compartment volume” refers to volume of space in a building or fire compartment. This volume does not include walls of protected elevators, emergency staircases and other spaces (e.g. sanitation areas and storage units) covered by walls with fire resistance ratings less than 1 hour and corridors passing through walls protected by class 2 fire rated doors installed with automatic door closing mechanisms. Compartment volume shall be calculated based on following dimensions:

a) Clearance area is based on distance between inner finished area of surrounding walls, or in case of all surfaces without surrounding walls, calculated from a vertical surface to the topmost outer edge of the floor; and

b) Height is based on distance from the highest point of the lower floor to the lowest point of the upper floor; and

c) In case of a building or fire compartment that extends to the ceiling, calculate up to the lowest point of the ceiling or lower surface of ceiling of the highest level in a fire compartment, including spaces occupied by unprotected walls, vertical shafts, service ducts, or structure within the calculated space.

4. “building height” is determined by height of the topmost storey excluding the topmost mechanical storey.  Height of a storey is determined by the distance from the lowest fire engine access roads to the lowest point of a window on the outer wall of said storey. If no windows are available, half of the height from floor to ceiling of the topmost storey shall be taken into account for calculation.

Chapter II

SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

Article 5. Fire safety requirements

1. Karaoke and nightclub establishments must satisfy fire safety requirements specified under Article 5 of Decree No.136/2020/ND-CP dated November 24, 2020 of the Government on elaborating to Law on Fire Prevention and Firefighting and Law on amendments to Law on Fire Prevention and Firefighting (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 136/2020/ND-CP”) as follows:

a) An establishment that is at least 3 storeys in height or has at least 1,000 m³ in volume must satisfy fire safety requirements specified under Clause 1 Article 5 of Decree No. 136/2020/ND-CP ;

b) An establishment that is lower than 3 storeys in height or has less than 1,000 m3 in volume must satisfy fire safety requirements specified under Clause 2 Article 5 of Decree No. 136/2020/ND-CP ;

c) An establishment situated within a high-rise building or a multi-purpose building must satisfy fire safety requirements specified under Clause 3 Article 5 of Decree No. 136/2020/ND-CP .

2. Fire safety requirements specified under Clause 1 of this Article must be implemented and maintained by heads of karaoke and nightclub establishments throughout operation.

Article 6. Fire prevention and firefighting design

1. Fire prevention and firefighting design shall be adopted for stand-alone karaoke and nightclub establishments that have at least 3 storeys in height or at least 1,500 m³ in total volume and karaoke and nightclub establishments that are incorporated in buildings and structures specified under Annex V attached to Decree No. 136/2020/ND-CP.

2. Karaoke and nightclub establishments specified under Clause 1 of this Article must be designed for fire prevention and firefighting purposes according to Article 11 of Decree No. 136/2020/ND-CP , to be specific:

a) Ensure fire safety distance from other structures according to QCVN 06:2020/BXD “National technical regulations on fire safety for buildings and structures” (hereinafter referred to as “QCVN 06:2020/BXD”), in which, karaoke and nightclub establishments which are situated adjacent to other structures must have class 1 fire-rated wall (REI 150) for grade I, II, III buildings and class 2 fire-rated wall (REI 45) for grade IV buildings.   Distance from karaoke and nightclub establishments to schools shall conform to Decree No. 54/2019/ND-CP dated June 19, 2019 of the Government on karaoke and nightclub business;

b) Fire resistance category of buildings must conform to scale and operation of buildings; building structures must have fire resistance rating suitable for use purposes and height of the buildings according to QCVN 06:2020/BXD.  Karaoke and nightclub establishments shall be identified as group F2.2 fire hazard by occupancy according to QCVN 06:2020/BXD;

c) Maximum height allowed of stand-alone karaoke and nightclub establishments shall depend on fire resistance category and be identified similar to public structures but no more than 16 storeys; must not exceed the 16th storey in case karaoke and nightclub establishments are situated within buildings of other purposes according to QCVN 06:2020/BXD; may situate 1 basement or semi-basement if total area does not exceed 300 m² and at least 2 emergency exits from the buildings are installed;

d) Emergency exits must conform to QCVN 06:2020/BXD;

dd) The maximum number of people allowed in a room, a level or a building of a karaoke and/or nightclub establishment shall be determined on the basis of 1 m²/person;

e) Design and installation of advertising panels of karaoke and nightclub establishments must conform to technical, structural, material and lighting requirements under QCVN 17:2018/BXD “Regulations on construction and installation of outdoor advertising methods” (hereinafter referred to as “QCVN 17:2018/BXD”), to be specific:

Position of advertising panels must not cover the entire building and must not conceal emergency exits and balconies;

Materials used for advertising panels must be non-flammable materials and conform to QCVN 06:2020/BXD and QCVN 17:2018/BXD;

Horizontal advertising panels situated at the front of the building are limited to one panel per storey with a maximum height of 2 m and a width that does not exceed horizontal clearance of the building’s front; the panels may protrude from the building’s outer wall by 0.2 m at most; vertical advertising panels situated at the front of the building must have a maximum width of 1 m and a maximum height of 4 m that does not exceed height of the storey where the panels are situated; the panels may protrude from the building’s outer wall by 0.2 m at most;

Electrical system for lighting advertising panels must be powered by separate power supply and protected by circuit breakers and aptomats.  Flammable commodities and materials must not be situated beneath or close to advertising panels;

g) Emergency lighting instrument and exit instruction lighting instrument must conform to TCVN 3890:2009 “Fire safety and firefighting equipment for buildings and structures – Equipment, distribution, inspection and maintenance” (hereinafter referred to as “TCVN 3890:2009”), in which, emergency lighting instrument and exit instruction lighting instrument must be situated in each room of karaoke and nightclub establishments;

h) Smoke control systems must conform to QCVN 06:2020/BXD and TCVN 5687:2010 “Air ventilation – Design standard”;

i) Traffic systems and parking lots serving operation of fire-fighting facilities and elevated entrance of buildings must conform to QCVN 06:2020/BXD;

k) Fire fighting systems must conform to QCVN 06:2020/BXD, TCVN 3890:2009, TCVN 7336:2003 “Automatic sprinkler system – Design requirements”, TCVN 5738:2001 “Automatic fire extinguishing system – Design requirements” (hereinafter referred to as “TCVN 5738:2001”) and national technical standards and national technical regulations on fire fighting and fire prevention, to be specific:

Fire safety and firefighting equipment must be in adequate quantity and quality according to technical regulations and technical standards on fire fighting and fire prevention, specific values are specified under Annex attached to this Circular;

Automatic fire extinguishing systems must conform to TCVN 5738:2001. Install fire sirens and fire alarm lights in corridors of each storey, fire sirens in each room of karaoke and nightclub establishments, interconnected fire alarms which automatically cut electricity of sound systems in singing rooms as soon as fire breaks out and fire alarms go off;

Fire fighting capacity and area of automatic sprinkler systems shall be determined for facilities with level III fire hazard for nightclub establishments and level I fire hazard for karaoke establishments. If rooms are separated from each other and from corridors by class 1 fire-rated wall according to QCVN 06:2020/BXD, may use area of the largest room to determine necessary flow rate and volume of reservoirs of automatic sprinkler systems.  Fire fighting duration must not be less than 60 minutes;

Outdoors water supply systems for firefighting must conform to QCVN 06:2020/BXD and TCVN 3890:2009. Karaoke and nightclub establishments situated within 100 m from fire hydrants of urban water supply systems or within 150 from rivers, lakes, etc. and having water collectors for fire-fighting facilities are not required to design outdoor water supply systems for firefighting;

l) Electrical systems, lightning arrester systems, static prevention system and distribution thereof within establishments must conform to QCVN 12:2014/BXD “National Technical Regulations on electrical systems of residential structures and public structures (hereinafter referred to as “QCVN 12:2014/BXD”), to be specific:

Electrical systems powering fire fighting and fire prevention systems and technical systems related to fire fighting and fire prevention systems must conform to Article 2.3 and Article 2.9 of QCVN 12:2014/BXD;

Electrical systems must be protected from thermal factors, overload and static according to Article 2.5 and Article 2.6 of QCVN 12:2014/BXD;

Lightning arrester systems must conform to Article 2.8 of QCVN 12:2014/BXD;

m) Fire spread prevention measures must conform to QCVN 06:2020/BXD, to be specific:

Walls separating corridors and rooms must be made of non-flammable or hardly combustible materials with fire-resistance rating of not lower than EI 30 for buildings with level I fire-rated category and not lower than EI 15 for buildings with level II, III or IV fire-rated category;

Rooms with at least 50 m2 in area and rooms situated in basements and semi-basements must employ non-flammable or hardly combustible materials for furnishing, sound-proofing and thermal insulation articles;

Areas for karaoke and nightclub functions must be separated from areas for other functions by fire-rated walls with fire-resistance rating of not lower than REI 45 in case of buildings with level IV fire-rated category or not lower than REI 150 in case of buildings with level I, II or III fire-rated category.

3. Karaoke and nightclub establishments not specified under Clause 1 of this Article must be designed for fire fighting and prevention conforming to Points a, b, dd, e, g, l, and m Clause 2 of this Article and QCVN 06:2020/BXD, to be specific:

a) Distance from traffic roads which are not narrower than 3.5 m and not shorter than 4.5 m and allowing fire engines access to any point on plan projections of the building must not be greater than 60 m;

b) Each storey must have at least 2 emergency exits. Rooms larger than 50 m² must have more than 2 emergency exits. A storey may have 1 emergency exit if the number of people simultaneously occupy the storey does not exceed 20 people and emergency exit leading to smoke-proof stairwells is installed with fire-rated doors that have fire-resistance rating of EI 30;

Clearance height of room doors must not be less than 1.9 m; clearance width of rooms must not be less than 1.2 m for rooms larger than 50 m² and not be less than 0.8 m for rooms as large as 50 m². Doors of rooms for karaoke and nightclub services must be opened in direction of egress;

c) Clearance height of emergency egress corridors must not be less than 2 m; clearance width must not be less than 1.2 m if business area of a storey is greater than 50 m² and not be less than 1 m for other cases;

d) Emergency staircases can be type 1, type 2, type 3, or N1, N2, N3 smoke-proof stairwells. Width treads for human evacuation must not be less than calculated width or width of any egress (door) along the stairs and not less than 0.9 m; slope (angle) of stairs for egress must not be greater than 45^o; depth of treads must not be less than 25 cm and riser must not be greater than 22 cm;   

dd) Design smoke extraction systems for following areas: corridors of basements, semi-basements which do not receive natural ventilation that lead to regularly occupied areas; rooms for karaoke and nightclub services with at least 50 m² in area.

Article 7. Design appraisal and acceptance inspection of fire prevention and firefighting

1. Karaoke and nightclub establishments specified under Clause 1 Article 6 of this Circular must receive design appraisal and acceptance inspection for fire prevention and firefighting according to Article 13 and Article 15 of Decree No. 136/2020/ND-CP

2. Karaoke and nightclub establishments not specified under Clause 1 Article 6 of this Circular are not required to receive design appraisal and acceptance inspection for fire prevention and firefighting but must meet fire prevention and firefighting requirements specified under Clause 3 Article 6 of this Circular.

Article 8. Assignment of fire fighting brigade

Assignment of fire fighting brigade in karaoke and nightclub establishments shall conform to Article 31 of Decree No. 136/2020/ND-CP .

Article 9. Safety inspection for fire fighting and rescue

1. Police authorities shall perform safety inspection for firefighting for karaoke and nightclub establishments according to Point dd Clause 3 Article 16 of Decree No. 136/2020/ND-CP and rescue requirements for karaoke and nightclub establishments according to Clause 2 Article 12 of Decree No. 83/2017/ND-CP dated July 18, 2017 of the Government on rescue operation of fire brigade (hereinafter referred to as “Decree No. 83/2017/ND-CP”).

2. Heads of karaoke and nightclub establishments are responsible for organizing safety inspection for fire fighting and rescue for establishments under their management in terms of inspection contents and methods specified under Clause 2 and Point a, Point b Clause 3 Article 16 of Decree No. 136/2020/ND-CP , Clause 1 Article 12 of Decree No. 83/2017/ND-CP .

Article 10. Responsibilities of police authorities

1. Publicizing regulations and law on fire safety, fire fighting, rescue, and fire safety, fire fighting, rescue measures for karaoke and nightclub establishments.

2. Guiding, inspecting and taking actions against violations to fire safety of karaoke and nightclub establishments as per the law.

3. Developing plans for cooperating with relevant entities in performing safety inspection for fire fighting, fire prevention and rescue, organizing practice for fire fighting, fire prevention and rescue measures for karaoke and nightclub establishments.

4. Producing and submitting to People’s Committees of the same levels and direct superior police authorities statistical reports on fire fighting, fire prevention and rescue for karaoke and nightclub establishments under management.

5. Performing other tasks according to regulations and law on fire fighting, fire prevention and rescue.

Chapter III

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 11. Entry into force

1. This Circular comes into force from February 20, 2021 and replaces Circular No. 47/2015/TT-BCA dated October 6, 2015 of Minister of Public Security guiding fire safety and fire fighting assurance for karaoke and nightclub establishments (hereinafter referred to as “Circular No. 47/2015/TT-BCA”).

2. List of fire safety and firefighting equipment for karaoke and nightclub establishments is specified under Annex attached to this Circular.

3. If legislative documents, clauses of legislative documents, standards and regulations referred to in this Circular are amended, the new version shall prevail.

4. Transition

a) Karaoke and nightclub establishments licensed for operation and satisfying fire safety and firefighting requirements according to Circular No. 47/2015/TT-BCA may maintain fire safety and firefighting conditions according to Circular No. 47/2015/TT-BCA after the effective date of this Circular. In case rescue equipment has not been prepared at establishments, heads of the establishments shall adopt appropriate measures to prepare equipment according to this Circular; 

b) Karaoke and nightclub establishments under list of projects and construction specified under Annex IV attached to Decree No. 79/2014/ND-CP dated July 31, 2014 on elaborating to Law on Fire Prevention and Firefighting and Law on amendments to Law on Fire Prevention and Firefighting that have received appraisal from police authorities for fire prevention and fire fighting design before the effective date of this Circular may comply with appraised design documents; 

c) For karaoke and nightclub establishments not under list of projects and constructions specified under Annex IV attached to Decree No. 79/2014/ND-CP that have received fire fighting and fire prevention design appraisal and approval from construction supervisory agencies and project developers and implemented fire fighting and fire prevention design before the effective date of this Circular, construction supervisory agencies and project developers continue to implement acceptance inspection and be responsible for ensuring fire fighting and fire prevention safety for the projects and constructions;  

In case karaoke and nightclub establishments under list of projects and constructions specified under Annex V of Decree No. 136/2020/ND-CP have received design appraisal from construction supervisory agencies and project developers but have not implemented fire prevention and fire fighting after the effective date of this Circular, project developers must apply for appraisal of fire prevention and fire fighting design according to Decree No. 136/2020/ND-CP at competent police authorities as per the law.

Article 12. Responsibilities for implementation

1. Director General of Central Department of Fire safety, Firefighting, and Rescue is responsible for inspecting and encouraging implementation of this Circular.

2. Heads of entities affiliated to ministries, directors of police authorities of provinces and central-affiliated cities and relevant organizations, individuals are responsible for implementation of this Circular.

3. Heads of ministries, ministerial agencies, Governmental agencies, People’s Committees of provinces or central-affiliated cities are requested to cooperate with Ministry of Public Security within their functions, tasks and powers in managing and inspecting implementation of instruction on fire prevention and fire fighting safety assurance for karaoke and nightclub establishments under their management.

Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be reported to the Ministry of Public Security (via Central Department of Fire safety, Firefighting, and Rescue) for timely instruction./.