KRG Interior Ministry Publishes Landmark Safety Guide Built on Global Standards

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – In a landmark move to institutionalize public safety and align the Kurdistan Region's infrastructure with global best practices, the Ministry of Interior on Sunday published the detailed content of the new Kurdistan Safety Guide, a comprehensive set of technical standards designed to protect the lives of citizens and create a secure environment across society. Dr. Sami Jalal, the Legal Advisor of the Ministry of Interior and the Head of the Preparatory Committee for the guide, presented a summary of the groundbreaking document, explaining that it was established for the "purpose of protecting the lives and safety of the citizens of the Kurdistan Region and providing a safe environment in society."

The publication of the guide follows its official launch on Saturday in a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, who hailed the initiative as a core part of the ninth cabinet's strategic vision to protect citizens and their property.

The new guide is the culmination of a meticulous, four-year process, and for the first time in its history, the Kurdistan Region will now have its own codified standards in the field of public safety. According to Dr. Jalal, the guide mandates that the construction of all buildings, factories, and projects, both large and small, must adhere to these new public safety requirements in an orderly and systematic manner.

The foundation of the Kurdistan Safety Guide is built upon the most reputable and accredited international standards. Dr. Jalal explained that the preparatory committee undertook an exhaustive review of the three main global standards: the American National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the European Committee for Standardization (EN), and the British Standards Institution (BSI).

"These three standards are accredited worldwide," he noted, providing a brief overview of each. The NFPA, founded in the U.S. in 1896, has issued approximately 300 standards and codes for fire protection. The EN, founded in 1961, issues European standards, with its most important safety codes relating to lifts (EN 81-72), alarm systems (EN 54), and the fire resistance of materials (EN 13501-1).

The BSI sets the benchmark for quality and public safety standards in Britain, and the committee drew from its codes on the fire resistance of building materials, fire alarm systems, and the design of fire-resistant buildings.

The process of creating a bespoke guide for the Kurdistan Region was a monumental undertaking.

"We held three meetings, we brought these standards and collected them, more than 15,000 pages were translated into the Kurdish language so that we could create a standard for the Kurdistan Region," Dr. Jalal revealed.

He stressed that the committee's approach was one of careful adaptation, not arbitrary alteration. "From each standard, the American, British, and European, we have taken those standards that are suitable for implementation in the Kurdistan Region," he clarified. "But in no way have we made changes to the main standards of those three standards."

The result of this exhaustive work is a set of seven main guides that now form the core of the Kurdistan Region's public safety framework.

These guides cover: the protection of buildings from fire; the safety of firefighting systems; the safety of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG); the safety of LPG for industrial sites; the construction of fuel stations; a safety guide for early warning systems; and a safety guide for the transportation of hazardous materials.

Dr. Jalal noted that the first six of these guides are a synthesis of the most relevant standards from the NFPA, EN, and BSI. The seventh guide, however, which deals with the transportation of hazardous materials, was adopted in its entirety from the internationally recognized UN Number system.

This system, established by a European international committee in 1947, uses a four-digit code to identify hazardous materials, such as the code 1203 for gasoline, ensuring universal understanding and safety protocols.

With the guide now officially published, the Ministry of Interior has laid out a clear, five-step plan for its implementation.

The first step involves a wide-ranging campaign of forums and seminars to introduce the guide to all segments of society that it covers. 

The second step will see the ministry coordinate with the media to further educate citizens on the guide's sections to help them protect their lives and property.

The third step will be the issuance of formal instructions for the implementation of the guide by the Minister of Interior.

The fourth and most crucial step for enforcement will be the formation of dozens of specialized inspection teams, comprising civil defense officers and architects, as well as civil, mechanical, and electrical engineers, who will be based in all civil defense centers and tasked with conducting both seasonal and sudden inspections of all places covered by the guide.

Finally, the fifth step will involve the creation of a sophisticated "DATA PLATFORM," a large database for the continuous monitoring of all projects in the Kurdistan Region.

This new safety framework is a cornerstone of a much broader campaign of reform and modernization within the Ministry of Interior, a vision championed by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani. In his keynote address at the launch ceremony, as previously reported by Kurdistan24, the Prime Minister emphasized that the true key to public safety lies in prevention.

"More important than [equipment and technology] is how we prevent disasters from happening and set limits for unwanted incidents," he said. "This is done through adherence to safety instructions and guides, which must be fully followed up and fully implemented."

The Prime Minister's address situated this achievement within the wider context of the significant progress made by the Ministry of Interior under the ninth cabinet, including a strategic investment in technology for both law enforcement and civil defense, and a highly successful traffic safety program that has seen the installation of speed cameras reduce traffic incidents by 50% and fatalities and serious injuries by over 60% in one year.

He described the new Safety Guide as a model for how the Kurdistan Region must adapt to progress and align itself with international standards, revealing that similar guides are now being prepared in other ministries. He concluded with a powerful appeal for a partnership between the government and the public, urging all citizens to adhere to the new instructions for their own safety and the safety of their communities.

As the new Kurdistan Safety Guide moves into its implementation phase, it represents a new social contract for public safety, a meticulously crafted blueprint designed to ensure that as the Kurdistan Region continues to build and grow, it does so on a foundation of security, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to protecting its most valuable resource: its people.