When the Fire and Rescue Service’s preventative and proactive work was ignored
What happened?
A hotel was inspected by the Fire and Rescue Service. When officers undertook the initial inspection, they found evidence of serious deficiencies and breaches of the Fire Safety Order, including missing fire doors, no working fire alarm, emergency lighting not properly maintained, combustible materials stored in escape routes, and no fire doors separating the kitchen from guest bedrooms.
Fire compartmentation was also found to be inadequate, fire extinguishers were not properly maintained, and the owner had not undertaken a fire risk assessment or made an emergency evacuation plan for the hotel.
The resulting Prohibition Notice, issued to the owner, banned the hotel from being used as accommodation until adequate steps had been taken to make the hotel safe. However, on a follow-up visit a year later, inspectors found four guests staying at the hotel, and conditions had not improved.
Legal Outcome
The hotel owner was sentenced to 12 months in prison and suspended for two years, for breaking fire safety laws. He was also ordered to pay £5,000 in costs, and complete 35 days of rehabilitation and 80 hours of unpaid work.
The FRS’s Head of Prevention and Protection, said: “He showed little or no regard for the safety of the guests. This was compounded by the fact that he ignored the prohibition notice and failed to take our advice to make the premises safer. We always aim to help and support any business to operate safely, however this case shows that we will take action when fire safety responsibilities are not taken seriously.”
What can we learn from what happened?
Fires are less common than they used to be – clearly good news. This will be due to a number of factors, but one of them will be the preventative, proactive work the Fire and Rescue Services carry out. Their inspections often lead to advice on what fire precaution measures need to be carried out, but when they come across such a serious offender as this hotel, they are prepared to take enforcement action.
The list of Fire Safety breaches in this case is very long and very disturbing, as is the owner’s lack of response to the prohibition notice. While this kind of prosecution is quite rare, because it does take a lot for things to get this far, his punishment was warranted.
Source of Information
SHP Online (originally published on the Fire Protection Association website)