‘Health and safety need to improve at places of worship’

by NADEEM BADSHAH

CALLS FOR FIRE DRILLS IN EVENT OF EMERGENCY

PLACES of worship need to “up their game” on health and safety by having regular fire drills and training all volunteers, community leaders have urged.

Mosques, churches, temples and gurdwaras were praised for their response to the Grenfell Tower fire in a report by think-tank Theos. Britain marked one year since the trage­dy in west London on June 14.

Researchers hailed the efforts of around 15 centres run by faith communities, but also called for places of worship to have regular fire drills to prepare for terrorist attacks and disasters. It also called for a database of volunteers with a range of skills who can be trained and vetted.

Mohamed Omer, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, told Eastern Eye: “All establishments of worship need to up their game in health and safety, child protection.

“In this day and age, the threat of an attack is imminent; we should be up to speed. I don’t think any of the mosques have done a fire drill when the congregation is there.

“It is very important, it should happen. But you do not have people there all the time, there are prayers in a short timeframe, so doing a fire drill would be difficult. I agree with the principle of it; mosques need to be prepared.”

Omer added that places of worship, including East Lon­don Mosque and Al Madina Mosque in Barking, east Lon­don, put volunteers through a training course – but the majority do not.

The After Grenfell: The Faith Groups’ Response report said following the west London inferno which killed 72 people, faith communities offered accommodation, drew up lists of missing people, provided counselling and supported survi­vors with getting housing.

The Al-Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre near the tower block invited people of all communities to eat and sleep in its building, with staff and volunteers deliver­ing supplies to survivors.

Abdurahman Sayed, CEO of Al–Manaar, said: “This re­port is a very useful reflection of the events that followed the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower on June 14, 2017.

“We at Al–Manaar believe that documenting the tragedy and its aftermath is important and will assist in any future review and evaluation exercises.”

In the first three days after the disaster, at least 6,000 people were fed by a range of faith communities. Harmander Sin­gh, from the Sikhs in England think-tank, said the aid response by volunteers to disasters has always been strong, but commit­tees at mosques, temples and gurdwaras need to change.

Singh, who is qualified to deliver training on dealing with critical incidents and first aid, told Eastern Eye: “It’s the same with mosques, Hindu temples and gurdwaras; you cannot get in touch with committee members.

“They do not know what is happening in their local com­munity, they are ill-equipped, their focus appears to be on issues in south Asia. Most gurdwaras have volunteers for Sewa [helping communities] for example, but will struggle to find someone who is qualified in first aid.

“Anybody getting on these executive committees needs to pass competency tests like speaking English, reading, cover issues that affect their congregations; a basic governance test.”