Deadly Bangkok blaze exposes enforcement gaps despite existing safety laws

BANGKOK – Experts are urging the Thai authorities to strengthen enforcement and revise outdated building regulations after the horrific fire that tore through Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao bar and restaurant in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district late on July 12.

The blaze has killed at least 30 people to date, with more than 70 injured, including 24 in critical condition.

While investigators are still determining the cause of the blaze, engineers and building safety experts say the tragedy has once again exposed a familiar pattern: Thailand has building safety laws on paper, but weak enforcement, outdated regulations and licensing loopholes have allowed dangerous venues to continue operating.

Wasawat Kitsiriteeraphak, former president of the Building Inspector Association, said Thailand already has comprehensive building safety laws – but compliance and enforcement remain major problems.

Based on his preliminary inspection of the charred venue, he identified several apparent safety shortcomings, including what appeared to be the absence of emergency exit signs, emergency lighting and a fire alarm system.

“However, determining whether these systems were absent, not installed, or fully compliant with legal requirements requires a comprehensive inspection of the entire building,” Wasawat told The Straits Times on July 14.

He added that full compliance with fire prevention systems, emergency escape routes, alarms and preparedness requirements would significantly reduce the risk of major loss of life.

The Bangkok bar blaze is the deadliest such fire in Thailand in nearly two decades.

Building and safety experts who spoke to ST pointed to one common factor behind Thailand’s repeated fire tragedies: poor enforcement of building and licensing regulations.

Amorn Pimanmas, president of the Thailand Structural Engineers Association, said Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao shared some critical flaws with the buildings in Thailand’s two deadliest nightclub fires in recent years: the widespread use of highly flammable polyurethane (PU) foam and non-compliant exit doors. The Santika nightclub fire in 2009 and the Mountain B nightclub fire in 2022, which shared similar shortcomings, resulted in numerous fatalities.

All three venues, Amorn noted, had installed PU foam, a highly flammable material commonly used for soundproofing and insulation. They also lacked exit doors that complied with regulations, which require doors to remain unlocked at all times and swing outwards in the direction of evacuation.

“When this PU foam catches fire, it spreads very rapidly. Within three or four minutes. Then the flames will spread all over the area. And the people will have very little time to escape,” he explained.

He added that burning PU foam releases highly toxic smoke, which may have contributed to the deaths of many patrons trapped inside Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao.

Amorn said business owners and operators can easily install flame-retardant foams but many do not.

“They can modify the buildings to be safer. But because you have to invest more money”, they end up not doing so, he said.

That is why stronger enforcement is needed, he added.

“You have to ask the government why you don’t force the entrepreneurs to revise the system and make it safer for the public?”

Beyond the building’s physical safety shortcomings, experts also questioned whether the venue should have been operating in its existing form.

According to Thai media reports, Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao was operating with only a restaurant licence despite functioning as an entertainment venue.

If the venue was operating without the proper entertainment licence, there could be penalties of up to one year’s imprisonment and/or a fine of 60,000 baht (S$2,300) under the Entertainment Places Act.

Wasawat said the incident showed that business licences alone were insufficient if a venue’s actual use differed from what had been approved.

Meanwhile, Amorn pointed out that even if Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao had sought to register as a pub, it would not have been able to do so as the location falls outside designated zoning areas for such establishments.

In order to work around this, such businesses register as a restaurant, he added.

Enforcement gaps

For experts, the latest tragedy is symptomatic of a longstanding problem: weak enforcement of building and licensing regulations.

Kannapa Pongponrat Chieochan, a Thammasat University lecturer who specialises in disaster resilience and public policy, said: “Weak coordination between government agencies, inconsistent monitoring, and corruption linked to illegal construction undermine the effectiveness of the law.”

“Some regulations have not kept pace with changing business models and urban development, which is why parts of the legal framework are now being reconsidered.”

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA), which oversees the Thai capital’s building inspections, told ST that Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao had passed a building inspection in April, just three months before the fire. The authorities are now investigating whether the venue continued to comply with the approved conditions and whether any unauthorised changes were made after that inspection.

Under the Building Control Act, operators who make unauthorised alterations, maintain unsafe escape routes or otherwise breach approved building plans could face up to three months’ imprisonment and/or a fine of up to 60,000 baht, in addition to daily fines for continuing violations.

The BMA said it was also reviewing whether post-approval inspections and enforcement were sufficiently robust. Following the fire, it has vowed to step up inspections of similar venues and review safety regulations and licensing requirements, with 14 establishments already identified for inspection.

“We will consider whether stronger enforcement or regulatory changes are needed to reduce the risk of similar incidents,” it added.

The BMA does not maintain official statistics on the number of such violations in the city.

Experts say they have heard similar promises after previous disasters, but little has changed.

“The government and related agencies should take serious responsibility by enforcing the law more strongly and carrying out consistent monitoring, with serious fines for those who engage in illegal practices,” said Kannapa.

“Safety standards should be integrated into every organisation’s code of conduct.”

Asked why enforcement remained weak despite repeated tragedies, Amorn said: “I also want to ask this question of the law enforcer, the government. We should enforce the law because we have everything available. On the engineering side, we don’t have problems with that. But the problem is the law enforcement.”

But for Suwanna Saeteaw, 38, discussions about stricter enforcement come too late.

On July 14, DNA testing confirmed that her 25-year-old sister, Jarawee Sermsiri, had died in the fire. “I haven’t even had time to feel angry yet. We’ve been searching for my sister and we found her only today. Now we have to prepare for the funeral.”