Emergency Services

EMS By-Laws

Certificate of registration for use, handling and storage of flammable substances

• Flammable Liquid Installation plans must be submitted.
• A registration certificate will be issued on completion of the installation.
• Transport, supply and delivery of dangerous goods
• A transport permit is issued for a period not longer than 12 months. The permit should comply with the codes of the South African Bureau of
• Standards. The owner of any vehicle used for transporting dangerous goods, must:
• Be in possession of a valid transport permit issued b​y the Chief Fire Officer in accordance with the National Road Traffic Act; and ensure that the transport permit is available in the vehicle for inspection at all times. ​

Disaster Management in the City

As required by the Disaster Management Act of 2002 the City has developed a Disaster Management Plan. This plan is aligned to the Provincial Disaster Management framework and other relevant guidelines as per the act. In an effort to ensure that this document becomes a reality:

• EMS is expanding its disaster management volunteer cadre so that communities become agents of the disaster management in the city;
• EMS has a Disaster Manag​ement Forum and is part of the Provincial Disaster Management Forum;​
• EMS conducts joint simulation exercises with businesses and other relevant agencies to ensure preparedness and mitigation;
• EMS conducts awareness sessions to prepare all stakeholders to mitigate disasters; and
• EMS has established partnerships with other key partners like the South African Weather Service and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

In Summary
​These by-laws apply within the area of jurisdiction of the City of Joburg ​Council and are in addition to any applicable national or provincial law.

Fire prevention

Certain self-made fires are prohibited without prior written permission from the Chief of Emergency Management Services or his/her nominee.
Storage and accumulation of combustible material are prohibited.

The owner/occupier of the property must eliminate the hazard without delay.

Fire protection

Design and construction of buildings should encompass water drainage from buildings and access to facilitate fire-fighting and rescue.

Provision should be made for the installation of sprinkler systems, extractor fan systems, emergency exits and fire-fighting equipment.

Adequate water supply through the provision of reservoirs for fire-fighting purposes.

Storage of flammable substances

All flammable liquid storerooms must be d​esigned in accordance with the requirements of the City’s bylaws. No person may store or allow the storage of any flammable substance in any storeroom without:

• A certificate of registration (Section 35); and
• Compliance with the requirements of th​e by-laws and any other applicable law.
• The use of fireworks without authorisation is prohibited in certain circumstances.
• Fireworks displays must be authorised by Council at least 14 days prior to the proposed event.

Application for permission to deal with fireworks must be made from the Chief or his / her nominee at least 30 days in advance.

Offences and Penalities 

Bylaws apply within the area of jurisdiction of the Joburg City Council and in addition to any applicable national or provincial law.
Any person who:

• Contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of these by-laws;
• Fails to comply with any notice issued or displayed in terms of these by-laws;
• Fails to comply with any lawful instruction given in terms of these by-laws; or
• Obstructs, hinders, or improperly influences or attempts to do so, any authorised representative or employee of the Council in the execution of his or her duties or performance of his ​or her powers or functions under these by-laws,
  is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or in default of payment to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months, and in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding R50, or in default of payment, to imprisonment not exceeding one day, for every day during the continuance of such offence, after a written notice has been issued by the Council, and served on the person concerned, requesting the discontinuance of such offence.

Spray painting

​​Spray painting is prohibited without a permit. The permit is renewable annually after inspection of the premises. Spraying rooms must comply with the City’s bylaws. No person may spray, coat, plate or epoxy-coat any vehicle, article, object or building or part thereof or allow them to be sprayed, coated, plated or epoxy-coated with any flammable substance unless:

That person is in possession of a spraying permit (Section 80); and
The spraying, coating, plating or epoxy-coating is conducted in a spraying room approved by the Chief Fire Officer on premises registered for that purpose.

Compliance
EMS encourages all businesses to comply with these bylaws to ensure that Joburg is a safe city. Inspectors ensure that compliance becomes a way of doing business.

 Contact 011 407 6023 or 011 758 9533 for further information.

Operations Directorate (Reactive Incident Management)

Disaster Management and Pier Directorate

Proactive Services Direct​orate (Investigations, Code Application and Code Enforcement)

Corporate Services and Academ​y​ Directorate

Management Support Directorate

Ambulances and Fire:

​​Provincial Hospitals:

Police:

Stations:

​​The City’s emergency services has four key focus areas:

​Responding to medical, fire and rescue emergencies;

Maintaining an emergency and disaster management control centre;

Preventing or minimising the effect of emergencies and disasters; and

Enforcing b​y-laws and codes.​​

The Citys Emergency Services Department (EMS) is committed to providing a sustainable emergency service to all the citizens of Joburg. It contributes directly to the City’s vision and priorities through its reactive and proactive services.

Through its proactive services, the unit plays a direct role in changing residents’ perceptions of their own safety. Through its reactive services, it is committed to ensuring that response times of ambulance and fire services are the wor ld standard.

It continuously develops programmes and awareness campaigns to enhance service delivery. These are informed by the risk profile that the City develops and updates regularly to ensure consistent monitoring relevance of the services.

Some of the projects and programmes are:

GIS Incident Mapping Project: this maps the prevalence of incidents in Johannesburg, to help planning. It is also used to help prevent disasters and so minimise damage.
Karabo Gwala Safety Awareness Campaign: this programme is a winter safety campaign for communities. Karabo Gwala died in 2004 after falling into an open sewerage hole at a construction site in Dube. The key message of the campaign is that communities need to be vigilant at all times.
BeSafe: Basic Emergencies, Safety and Fire Education (BeSafe) is an injury prevention and disaster preparedness programme geared especially towards young children. It is designed to help children and families to create safer homes and communities by giving them appropriate skills and knowledge. 
There are six B​eSafe centres in Joburg – in Alexandra, Dube, Berea, Orange Farm, Ivory Park and Florida Park. Telephone 011 758 5050 for more information.

Volunteers are an integral part of Joburg’s EMS. These people sacrifice their time, and sometimes their money, to help those who are destitute and helpless.

Volunteers are governed by the National Disaster Management Act, which allows municipalities to establish a unit of volunteers to participate in disaster management.

To maintain an inclusive approach to the participation of volunteers in disaster risk management, volunteers are classified into three categories:

Unit of volunteers.This category provides for individuals, groups or organisations that already have specialised skills, as well as those who undertake to be trained in specific skills.

General volunteers. This category provides a general pool of volunteers who can be drawn on by the municipality to perform a variety of functions that may or may not require specialised skills. Volunteers in this category must be registered and must meet minimum criteria set down in accordance with national standards.

Spontaneous volunteers. The Act also recognises that people will always respond spontaneously in emergencies and that these humanitarian responses should not be discouraged.

Special skills reservists corps

This category caters for all the professional reservists with specialised skills, including doctors, mechanical and civil engineers, data capturers and specialists in the fields of disaster and trauma, communications, environmental, and accounting, among others.

Training and development

Training and development is an ongoing process to ensure that the City’s volunteers are skilled to deal with different disasters. This process is in line with the national government policy of up-scaling the skills of individuals and communities.

Several courses are offered:

• Orientation course;Basic first aid;
• Basic firefighting;
• Introduction to disaster management;
• Introduction to fire safety;
• Introduction to events management; and
• Introduction to public information, education and relations.
• Individuals are also given the opportunity to identify their areas of interest as soon as their training is completed.

Volunteer training is free of charge and is open to individuals and companies.

Community emergency response teams

These are members of the community who are trained to ensure that they are able to take charge and intervene during basic emergencies while the EMS is on the way.

For more information, contact the EMS’s public education division on 011 758 5050

Junior cadets

The junior cadet programme is a youth development programme designed to develop leadership qualities, teamwork and problem-solving skills among youths.

The programme caters for 12- to 18-year-olds. Cadets undergo similar training to that of the EMS’s operational firefighters, which includes drill training, handling the firefighting equipment and first aid.

​For more information on how to become an EMS volunteer, contact the department’s volunteers section on 011 222 8000.​

Vision

The EMS aims to become a leading, world-class, African emergency management service. Its core business is saving lives and property through pro-active interventions and preventative programmes. In this way it hopes to mitigate the costs of risk coverage for residents.

 Mission

It will be the leader in the provision of emergency management services in Africa by pro-actively preserving life and property. It will achieve this through developing and deploying an effective human resources function, providing modern equipment and through community empowerment and education drives.

Key objectives

Its core business is saving lives and property.

 ​It has seven (7)​ main objectives:

1. Create an end-to-end Customer Relationship Management Strategy;
2. Emergency and disaster management preparedness;
3. 2010 World Cup™ programme;
4. Effective custodianship of the City’s by-laws and prescripts;
5. Community empowerment;
6. Transformed organisation; and
7. Financial management.