Lady BFP exec rallies women vs. fire-prone workplaces
Speaking about some trivia related to fire incidents and deaths in history, the first woman regional director of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP)6 said women should be conscious of the hazards that fire brings in their work places and in the homes.
BFP director Sr. Supt. Maria Sofia B. Mendoza herself an actual firefighter, said the experience of women who died in their work places in New York many years ago paved the way for the observance of International Women’s Day which the Philippines has also come to value as an expression of its respect for women.s rights.
Mendoza said the death of those young women in unsafe factories called the world’s attention then to the fact that there were no fire safety measures instituted in the work place and that it was a concern too, for poor labor legislations and deplorable labor situation that threatened women workers.
She said fire is only among the hazards in work places but it can prove fatal to helpless victims like women and young workers, who can be trapped because their workplaces lack the safety provisions.
Mendoza led her staff during the kick off activities of Women’s Month at the UPV Auditorium, March 9, participated in by some Women’s groups. government agencies and the academe, with bigger participation from the Philippine National Police, the BJMP and the BFP, expressive of the provision in the Magna Carta for Women signed by President Arroyo last August 2009, for more women personnel in the AFP and its allied agencies.
In her trivia stories about fire incidents in history that killed helpless women, she said that those tell lessons of vigilance and advocacies that must be taken up by governments and by all sectors so that the lives of women workers are not endangered.(PIA6/ESS)
