Throughout 2023, the Jakarta Fire Handling and Rescue Agency (Gulkarmat) recorded 2,286 fires, and the leading cause was electrical short circuits, with 1,216 incidents (Lumban Tobing, 2024). The figure is a reminder that urban fires still tend to start from ordinary things, and that the readiness of people on site decides whether a small fire stops in the first minute.
At work, that readiness is organised through a fire response unit. Many companies have appointed fire wardens, but few check whether their number and distribution match the site's fire risk class. This article sets out how to calculate them, with worked examples and the limits of the method.
The Legal Basis
Minister of Manpower Decree No. KEP.186/MEN/1999 on Workplace Fire Response Units requires management to prevent, reduce and extinguish fires. The duty covers control of every form of energy, provision of detection, alarm, extinguishing and evacuation facilities, a fire response unit, regular training and drills, and a written fire emergency plan for workplaces with more than 50 workers or with medium or high fire hazard (Departemen Tenaga Kerja [Depnaker], 1999, Article 2).
The unit is sized by headcount and fire hazard class: low, medium I, medium II, medium III and high (Articles 3 and 4). Appendix I gives examples. Offices and hotels are low, electronics and bakery plants are medium I, textile mills and machine shops are medium II, warehousing and garment factories are medium III, while paint factories and petroleum refining are high (Depnaker, 1999).
The unit consists of fire wardens, a fire squad, a unit coordinator and a fire safety specialist as technical lead (Article 5). Article 6 sets the numbers:
- At least 2 fire wardens for every 25 workers.
- A fire squad and a fire safety specialist at low and medium I sites with 300 or more workers, and at every medium II, medium III and high hazard site.
- At least 1 coordinator per 100 workers at low and medium I sites, and 1 per work unit at medium II, medium III and high hazard sites.
Five Calculation Steps
We organise the calculation in five steps. The first borrows the five-step fire risk assessment used in the United Kingdom: identify fire hazards, identify people at risk, evaluate and remove or reduce the risks, record findings and prepare an emergency plan and training, then review regularly (Home Office, 2023).
- Map areas and hazards: ignition sources such as electrical panels, combustible materials and storage heights.
- Assign each area a class from Appendix I. For mixed sites, we suggest using the highest class present in that area.
- Calculate fire wardens: divide the headcount by 25, round up, then multiply by 2. In our view this should be done per shift, because fires do not keep office hours.
- Decide whether a fire squad and a fire safety specialist are required, then calculate coordinators.
- Write the result into the fire emergency plan and the drill schedule.
Two Worked Examples
Take a garment factory with 420 workers on two shifts, 240 on the day shift and 180 at night, and two work units, sewing and the warehouse. Garment factories are medium III. Calculated on total headcount, the plant needs 420 divided by 25, which is 16.8 rounded up to 17, multiplied by 2, giving 34 fire wardens. Calculated per shift, the day shift needs 20 and the night shift 16, for 36 in total. As a medium III site, it needs a fire squad and a fire safety specialist, and at least 2 coordinators, one per work unit.
Compare an electronics plant with 260 workers on a single shift. It is medium I, so it needs 22 fire wardens. A fire squad and specialist are not yet required because headcount is below 300, and coordinators are counted at 1 per 100 workers. We round up to 3 so that the remaining 60 workers are covered.
Where It Falls Short
The calculation rests on headcount, not floor area, travel distance or fire load. Appendix I was also drafted in 1999, so workplace types it does not list are classified separately by the minister or a designated official (Depnaker, 1999, Article 4).
Numbers do not guarantee readiness either. A study at a pulp and paper mill found that the fire team was trained and emergency procedures were coordinated with the local fire service, but the team was not meeting every three months and six-monthly drills had not been held (Priambudi et al., 2017). We read this as a common pattern: the unit's structure is easier to fill than its training habit.
The Jakarta data also put prevention first. KEP.186/MEN/1999 lists control of every form of energy as the first duty, ahead of extinguishing equipment and the unit itself (Depnaker, 1999). With short circuits the leading cause of fires (Lumban Tobing, 2024), a fire warden trained to spot an overloaded electrical panel is as valuable as one who can handle an extinguisher.
How Nusa Safety Helps
Nusa Safety helps companies assess fire risk, protection systems and emergency unit readiness through its Fire and Emergency Safety Audit (FESA), and runs fire brigade training, with certified classes delivered together with licensed PJK3 partners.
This article is general information and not legal or professional advice for any specific case.
References
- Departemen Tenaga Kerja. (1999). Keputusan Menteri Tenaga Kerja Nomor KEP.186/MEN/1999 tentang Unit Penanggulangan Kebakaran di Tempat Kerja [Minister of Manpower Decree No. KEP.186/MEN/1999 on workplace fire response units]. https://jdih.kemnaker.go.id/asset/data_puu/1999kmnaker186.pdf
- Home Office. (2023). Fire safety risk assessment: 5-step checklist. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-safety-risk-assessment-5-step-checklist
- Lumban Tobing, A. G. (2024, January 9). Do's and don'ts to prevent electricity short. Berita Jakarta. https://m.beritajakarta.id/en/read/53264/dos-and-donts-to-prevent-electricity-short
- Priambudi, B. S., Kurniawan, B., & Widjasena, B. (2017). Telaah kesiapsiagaan manajemen terhadap kondisi darurat kebakaran di PT. X (pulp & paper) tahun 2017 [Management preparedness for fire emergencies at PT X, a pulp and paper company, 2017]. Jurnal Kesehatan Masyarakat (e-Journal), 5(5), 336-345. https://doi.org/10.14710/jkm.v5i5.18949
