International Journal on Engineering Performance-Based Fire Codes, Volume 3, Number 2, p.59-66, 2001 59 FIRE SAFETY REQUIREMENTS IN KARAOKES: COMMENTS ON THE NEW KARAOKE ESTABLISHMENTS BILL W.K. Chow Research Centre for Fire Engineering Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China (Received 2 May 2001; Accepted 18 May 2001) ABSTRACT Consequent to a big arson fire in a karaoke, a new Karaoke Establishments Bill is to be implemented for providing a safer indoor environment for karaoke activities. A long list of fire safety provisions is specified. There are concerns from the local industry as it has not been demonstrated that following the new requirements will ensure fire safety. For example, fire safety objectives were worked out from an arson fire, not for an accidental fire. This would divert the issue from solving a safety problem to a security problem. As there would be significant cost on the construction works for providing fire safety; and disturbance to the normal business operation, the following building refurnishment works are of the most concern: y Increasing the corridor width from 1.05 m to 1.2 m; y Eliminating all ‘dead-ends’; and y Providing fire resistance construction on the partition wall. Preliminary studies show that those three points are not critical. However, key items on providing fire safety are missed out: y Flame spreading over the internal corridor wall. y Heat release rate of a karaoke fire. y Smoke management in the corridor. Further investigational works must be carried out as soon as possible. The possibility of using fire safety management as an alternative should be considered. 1. INTRODUCTION Citizens in Hong Kong enjoy going to karaokes for entertainment, spending hours inside. Fire safety aspects in karaokes were not concerned until an arson fire happened. People are starting to become more aware of the potential fire hazards in a karaoke. Those places are typically partitioned into many boxes, with long corridors, and are usually crowded with people during weekends and holidays. Most of them are located in shopping malls, hotels and highrise commercial buildings. Fire safety provisions in those karaokes are now watched carefully by the government. However, no particular license was designated for karaokes, apart from having licenses for restaurants or bars. “Karaoke Establishments” are now clearly defined by the Authority [1-3]. Licenses will be issued to those satisfying various requirements with fire safety to be a main concern. A consultation paper was distributed for comments in 1998, with the proposed Karaoke Establishments Bill read the first time in the Legislation Council on 7 February 2001. The karaoke business is a very big sector of the service industry in Hong Kong and safety must be provided to the public. Objective of the Bill is to establish a statutory licensing scheme for regulatory control of karaoke establishments to improve their fire safety provisions. If allowed to read the third time, it will be implemented. Karaoke means an activity in which one or more persons chant, intone, sing or vocalize in association with or in company with any music or other sound, or any visual image or other information is produced, distributed or conveyed by a film, laser disc, video tape or other audio- visual device; and/or displayed or exhibited on a screen or any surface; and/or blended or mixed with the music or other sound or the visual image or other information by amplifier, microphone speaker, or other amplifying device. “Karaoke Establishments” means any place, used for karaokes by ways of trade or business on its own account or in connection with other trade or business activity, whether or not the place is a place to which the public have or permitted to have