Harbour Town on the Gold Coast is regarded as one of the best shopping centres in Queensland, although its myriad of lanes and alleyways which make up the centre normally requires a compass or GPS unit to navigate the site.But one thing which is lurking in Harbour Town is the lack of public fire safety with at least one store giving the public "two to the Valley" with its apparent attitude towards customers if a fire were to break out in the store.
Queensland's fire safety laws have been enacted by Parliament for a very good reason - to ensure that members of the public, men, women and children, are protected as far as humanely possible in the event of a fire.It is not helped by stores such as Tivity which deliberately block the fire exit, preventing people from reaching safety if a fire broke out.
In this day and age, how can Tivity possibly justify blocking a safety exit.
There have been too many tragedies around the world where fire escapes have been locked or blocked to ignore these sorts of transgressions.
A picture speaks a million words in this case.
Despite the clear red lettering "EMERGENCY EXIT ONLY", someone in Tivity has taken it upon themselves to place a display rack standing about two metres high, right at the entrance to the door.The picture clearly shows the metal rack behind the fire door with other merchandise on the floor just behind.
You don't have to be Einstein to know that emergency exit doors are designed for one reason and that by blocking them with display racks, could lead to a real tragedy.
Harbour Town Management needs to act swiftly over this issue.
We are talking about people's lives - where there can be no compromise!
Tivity should be ordered to immediately remove this physical barrier from the emergency exit.
If they fail to take action, they should be referred to the Gold Coast City Council and the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service for their apparent blatant disregard of Queensland's fire safety laws.
The major concern is that store owners and managers often don't care about fire safety.
"I didn't think it would happen to me," is the usual utterance after a real tragedy occurs - then it is far too late.
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