The deadly fire in Crans-Montana has exposed wide disparities in how Switzerland’s cantons train those responsible for enforcing fire-safety rules. In the wake of the tragedy, the canton of Valais has acknowledged that the knowledge of communal safety officers is not always adequate and says it wants to strengthen training.
The problem is structural. Although fire-safety standards apply nationwide, Switzerland’s federal system gives cantons broad discretion over enforcement, including the training of inspectors. As a result, restaurants, cafés and bars are not inspected with the same frequency—or by officials with comparable qualifications—across the country.
Fribourg requires inspectors who carry out periodic checks of public venues to complete a compulsory week-long course run by its cantonal insurance body, followed by an exam. In Jura and Geneva, inspections are handled at cantonal level by professionals holding recognised fire-protection qualifications. By contrast, Valais imposes no mandatory basic training, and neither does Vaud, where responsibility for public venues such as bars and nightclubs lies with municipalities.
In those cantons, communal technical services sometimes have only rudimentary knowledge of fire prevention. Vaud’s cantonal insurer offers a range of courses, but it is up to municipalities to send staff. In Valais, communal safety officers must attend at least one day of training a year; some hold federal fire-safety certificates, but many do not. Since the Crans-Montana fire, several municipalities have sought to bolster their capacity by hiring private experts; the resort itself has just mandated an external firm to assist with inspections.
In Neuchâtel, inspectors in small municipalities are sometimes members of local legislative bodies serving on a part-time basis. Their initial training lasts only a day or two, supplemented by continuing education. They work from checklists covering issues such as clear emergency exits and access for firefighters. Some say it is increasingly hard to recruit such inspectors.
In German-speaking Switzerland, the picture is more standardised than in much of Romandie, though far from uniform. Fire-safety enforcement in cantons such as Zurich, Bern, Aargau and St Gallen is typically more professionalised and centralised, with inspections carried out by cantonal fire authorities or by specialists mandated by them. Inspectors are usually required to hold a recognised qualification in fire protection, most commonly certificates issued by the Swiss Association of Cantonal Fire Insurance Institutions, which sets nationwide technical standards. Training often involves several weeks of coursework, modular exams and continuing education.
But compared with French-speaking cantons such as Valais or Vaud, German-speaking cantons tend to impose clearer minimum qualifications, make greater use of cantonal insurance bodies, and rely less on lightly trained municipal staff. The result is not full harmonisation, but less variation in training depth and inspection quality than across Switzerland as a whole.
It the wake of the Crans-Montana tragedy, Swiss fire safety procedures are likely to get a shake up across the country.
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