Fire hose maker manipulated quality tests for 20 years

Written by Chang on Friday, October 10th, 2008

The nation’s largest fire hose maker has been switching hoses of substandard strength with more durable products to pass preshipment examinations for about 20 years, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

Ashimori Industry Co. sells hoses to fire departments and headquarters in about 1,000 municipalities nationwide, but it is unclear whether its shipments included such understrength hoses.

The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency strongly suspects Ashimori Industry is violating the Fire Service Law and will question the firm on the matter.

Under a provision of the law, products from companies selling fire hoses must pass examinations of strength and other properties set by the Japan Fire Equipment Inspection Institute (JFEII), a Tokyo-based public corporation.