Every inch of available space, not required for customer perambula- tions, is in some stores stacked to capacity with combustible goods; stockrooms almost bulge under the weight of stores therein; fire doors are jammed open or removed; staircases are blocked by displays and etc. These conditions are even more deplorable when one considers the number of serious department store fires which have occurred in recent years throughout the world and of which Hong Kong store owners cannot be ignorant.
Buildings (Fire Service Installations)
84. This has been the first complete year in which the Director of Fire Services has specified the minimum fire protection measures required in buildings under the provision of the Buildings Ordinance. Inspections of completed installations have risen approximately 50% over previous years.
New Building Plans
85. 1,430 new building plans were processed by the Bureau during the year; this figure does not include plans re-submitted after amend- ments made by architects as a result of Buildings Ordinance and Fire Service requirements. The decrease of 225 plans compared to last year does not reflect a diminishing work load. The tendency for large-scale development and in consequence the increased depth of investigation and study which plans require has over-compensated for the numerical decrease. If the work done on new plans could be appraised in terms of floor area, height, volume, etc., this year's assessment of the output of the plans section of the Bureau would undoubtedly over-shadow the output in previous years.
Legislation
86. After protracted consultations with manufacturers and manu- facturing associations, plastics and a number of other combustible substances were removed from Categories 8 and 9 of the Dangerous Goods Regulations and transferred to a new Category 9A.
87. The amended Regulations result in plastic and certain other substances being released from the stringent licensing, storage and packing requirements specified in the Dangerous Goods Regulations. All that is now necessary is for the storage of commodities (in excess of specified quantities) to be registered with the Fire Service to ensure that-
(a) the stores do conform to reasonable safety standards, and
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