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daily nebraskan
friday, december 12, 1980
Sen. Wesely suggests high-rise fire safety bill bill
By Mary Kempkes
UNL residence halls could be in for expensive reno
vations if proposed legislation is passed next session.
A bill to be proposed by Lincoln Sen. Don Wesely
would require all high-rise buildings to have adequate
safety equipment. Equipment which Wesely speculates
most residence halls don't have. High-rise would probably
mean 75 feet-the average height beyond which rescue
equipment cannot reach, according to the State Fire
Marshall's Office.
This would include most UNL residence halls and sev
eral class buildings.
While Lincoln and Omaha have adequate regulations
requiring fire equipment in new construction, the safety
measures are not mandatory in existing buildings. Wesley
said older buildings need improved fire equipment most.
The high-rise fire bill would force all existing buildings
-including all those on UNL and UNO campuses -to up
date their fire equipment to meet standards set in the bill.
Fire equipment which the bill could make mandatory
includes fire alarms, public address systems, extinguishers,
sprinkler systems and areas of refuge -rooms which can
resist fire for at least two hours. These are included in the
Lincoln codes for new construction.
Wesley said the bill was first introduced last session,
though recent tragedies-thc MGM Grand Hotel in Las
Vegas and the Stouffer's Inn fire in White Plains, N.Y. -have
given it some attention.
"That's what happened there," Wesley said. "No
alarm, no one knew about the fire
"Obviously the time is right to move with it (the bill)."
The renovations will be expensive, Wesley said, because
it is more expensive to upgrade an old building than to
include safety equipment in new building plans. Other
fire safety corrections made to UNL buildings in 1975
cost about $1.71 million.
For this reason, Wesley said, he expects a battle to get
the bill passed. Owners of older homes, offices and resi
dence halls will fight to have a grandfather clause attach
ed to the bill, excluding existing buildings.
s "He's gonna jump," Wesley said. "He's not gonna like
it. They should be concerned about cost. That's only fair.
But I think the balance factor is the value you place on
human life.
"We've seen the inadequate fire codes that have caused
the deaths of many people. I don't want to wait until
someone dies in Nebraska before we do something."
Wesley said he would like to reorganize state agencies
dealing with building safety codes through related but
separate legislation. Proper organization, he said, could
eliminate inspection duplications. For example, one
state agency makes routine inspections of elevators,
another of fire equipment and another of boilers. If con
solidated under one agency, he said the state could save
time and inonev.
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Causing accidental death
often too hard to bear
By Jim Garrett
It was just an accident yet now some
body is dead. She forgot to look behind
the car as she backed out of the driveway
and now the neighbor's boy is gone.
He had always checked his gun when
crossing a fence while hunting with his
brother, but he forgot just this once and
now his brother is gone.
Accidental death, the suddenness of it
all. The incident just won't go away. The
regret and remorse of some past tragedy
lingers. The constant recreation of the accid
ent. These plus the added weight of the un
relieved guilt are just part of what those
who are the cause of an accidental death
of a friend, a loved one or stranger suffer
the rest of their lives.
But this is just the beginning of people's
lives after an accident involving death,
said Barbara Chesser, associate professor
of human development and the family at
UNL.
People who read about the accident
soon forget the victim while family and
friends mourn the loss. Meanwhile, little
has been said or done to help the person
who was the cause of the accidental death.
Chesser said.
Victim and cause
The emphasis and attention of an ac
cidental death focuses on the victim and
the initial cause. Chesser said. The death
begins to lade away from the public with
the passage of time, but lingers not only in
the hearts ami minds of the the victim's
family and friends, but also in the one
responsible for the accident.
She said there are probably more re
sponsible for accidental deaths than real
ized in the 100.000 plus accidental deaths
recorded each e:ir in the United States.
The guilt last sears after the accident
has disappeared liom the public eye.
Chesser said. Just how many people have
unresolved feelings from having caused an
accidental death is unknown.
Chesser said that one case that occurred
about 40 years ago involved an individual
who was showing off by driving too close
to an unloading school bus. His rear wheel
caught and killed a child getting oil the
bus.
He was excused from all criminal
charges and the community forgave him,
but as time passed he had serious life prob
lems, contemplated suicide, dealt with a
severe drinking problem and harbored an
extreme amount of guilt for what he had
done. She said the outside world views him
as a very successful businessman with two
daughters and a wife who all graduated
from college, but on the inside is a total
disaster.
Compounded problem
Chesser said the lack of any punishment
from society has compounded his problem
to some extent, but the fact that he ended
the life of another has stayed with him all
these years.
Chesser sent a questionnaire to those
who enquire about her research into acci
dental death. The individual is asked to
voluntarily recreate the accident and eval
uate their life and problems that have been
affected bv the accident.
She said the questionnaire has revealed
two main things. Many people have quest
ioned their belief in God, such as how
could a loving God let this happen to mc?"
And that the accident was the worst cris
is that has ever happened to them.
Chesser said the a people have said
it helps them when they have a friend
willing to listen and not give them the third
degree of the how and the why of the acci
dent. Joking doesn't help the individual,
she said, it just complicates the guilt they
have to bear.
The humor element comes from those
who try to cover up or hide their own in
adequacies concerning death, Chesser said.
Another case involved a lifeguard who
listened to a bystander repeat that the
drowning victim was only faking it. She
kept listening to the bystander while the
victim kept sinking. By the time that she
understood that it wasn't a joke it was too
late.
Self-punishment worse
Chesser said recreating the scene often is
too horrible to bear, and the responsible
one runs from reality and tries to hide
from what happened. The self-punishment
is often worse than what they have or
might have received from society.
Some of the people who caused an acci
dent have chosen to devote themselves to
counseling careers to make up for the loss
of another life. Chesser said.
But counseling a person who caused a
death is extremely difficult she said. She
mentioned that letters from doctors and
counselors requesting information on how
to deal with this type of case has shown
that research in this area is definiteK
needed.
Unlike counseling a faltering marriage,
where hope of making it good again is a
possibility, the accidental death deals
with a finality. The sheer pernanency !
it is overwhelming to many of the individ
uals and counselors, Chesser said.
Many people say they have learned to
live with it, but can't forget it. It is so trite
to say that time will help Chesser said. She
cited the case of a train engineer who was
unable to stop the train before it demol
ished an old man and his car. She said the
engineer remembers and suffers every time
he passes that intersection.
Chesser said the finality of death
is the hardest thing to handle.
The public is not aware that often the
person who was part of the accident is
not responsible for it, but is a person of
circumstance and consequence, Chesser
said.
Chesser said' it must be remembered
tliat anyone could find themselves in a
situation where circumstances lead to an
accidental death or injury. It can't be said
'hat the individual responsible for 3n ac
cidental death is any less safe than the rest
society that hasn't been involved in the
-t'lie situations.