30 July 2008 - New Central Hotel, Blackpool - £8,543
A fire safety audit was carried out on the premises in early October 2007 and revealed a number of shortfalls in the management of Fire Safety, the fire alarm system, fire separation and fire doors. An enforcement notice was issued and extended twice but by April 2008 the enforcement notice had expired and minimal attempt had been made to comply with the notice. Consequently, a prosecution case file was prepared by Sean Hennessy and Mark Cairns.
Magistrates were informed that fire safety had been neglected and disregarded Retson Ltd had had every opportunity to comply with the notice.
Court date: 30/7/08
Breaches resulting in offences
Failing to test fire alarm, emergency lights and firefighting equipment.
Storing combustibles close to ignition source in an area with no fire separation.
Failing to make a suitable Fire Risk Assessment.
Failing to maintain the Fire Alarm in efficient working order.
Failing to provide adequate fire doors on 12 bedroom doors.
Failing to provide adequate fire separation to an external fire exit.
Failing to keep give adequate training to staff.
Failing to comply with an enforcement notice.
The magistrates commented that "they considered these extremely serious as it involves the protection of the public".
The mitigation put forward by the defence stated that everything was now compliant and that the company were in a poor financial position.
The Magistrates decided to deal with what they considered the two worst offences (failing to comply with an enforcement notice and failing to provide a risk assessment) as specimen offences and awarded fines of £3,300 for both offences, with £1,928 full costs awarded to Lancashire Combined Fire Authority, a total of £8,543.
05/08/08
Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Authority have been successful in an appeal that was lodged against an Enforcement Notice served on a property that operated as self-catering holiday accommodation.
The central legal issue raised was that The Order did not apply to the premises as it was “a private dwelling “.
The District Judge presiding over the case heard arguments from Counsel for the appellant and from David Stotesbury, Counsel for the Fire and Rescue Service, following which he ruled that the premises in question did fall within the requirements of the Order.
This ruling is regarded as a landmark legal judgement. However, it should not be regarded as laying down a rule that all holiday lets will necessarily fall within the Order as proportionality will be the key to determining whether the circumstances surrounding individual holiday lets result in their coming with the scope of the Order. Although the case does not lay down a binding precedent, it can be considered by other similar Courts when dealing with comparable matters.
The appeal also contested that the requirements of the EN were disproportionate and that insufficient time had been allowed for their completion. The District Judge adjourned the hearing of these technical fire safety matters until there is a joint inspection of the premises, after which the matter will return to the court ; or, if the parties so wish it, and the judge agrees, the technical issues could be referred to the Welsh Assembly for a determination under Article 36 of the Order.
29.04.08 £25,000
[Worthing Today] The former management company of The White Swan hotel near Arundel has been fined £25,000, plus costs, after pleading guilty to serious breaches of fire safety laws.
The prosecution followed a fire at the hotel in March 2007, when 10 guests were trapped in their bedrooms and had to be rescued from first-floor windows by firefighters using ladders.
Staff did not receive adequate fire safety training, fire alarms were not being tested correctly, fire doors were wedged open and there was no suitable emergency plan in case a blaze did break out. www.worthingherald.co.uk
25/04/08 £28,500
Iceland Foods in Breach of Fire Safety Legislation
Iceland Foods has been ordered by Nottingham magistrates to pay a total of £28,500 in fines and costs after admitting that it had failed to comply with fire safety legislation.
The breaches were discovered following a fire at the Iceland store in Bulwell, Nottingham in September 2006. An electrical fire broke out on the ground floor and six members of staff on the first floor evacuated to the roof, where they discovered the vertical escape ladder was locked. They ultimately managed to break the lock with a crowbar and all, but one, climbed to safety.
Firefighters had to rescue one remaining member of staff from the roof who was unable to climb down the ladder. An investigation by officers from Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service uncovered a number of fire safety contraventions, which led to the prosecution. Yesterday, (Wednesday), magistrates in Nottingham ordered Iceland Foods to pay £15,000 in fines and £13,500 in costs.
“Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service takes these matters extremely seriously” said Mark Huckerby, Head of Fire Protection. “Companies have an obligation to their staff, customers and visitors to keep their premises safe, and Iceland Foods clearly failed to do this. The fact that no-one was injured does not detract from the potential seriousness of this incident, and when we investigated, we were very concerned to find basic failures.”
Mr Huckerby continued: “Fire safety legislation is put in place to ensure peoples safety, and we are responsible for policing and enforcing it. The public needs to be reassured that we take this duty very seriously and, whilst we continually strive to help businesses to achieve compliance and safer premises, the Fire Authority will prosecute serious breaches.
I am pleased with the outcome today, and I am sure that Iceland Foods will continue to tighten up on fire safety procedures at all of its stores as a consequence of this. I hope it will also serve as a potential warning to other companies that may not take fire safety as seriously as they should, and do not comply with the law.”
- Iceland pleaded guilty in court to four charges relating to:
- Failure to properly manage fire safety measures
- Failure to properly instruct and train its staff
- Failure to keep, and maintain, emergency exit routes clear
- Means of escape could not be quickly and safely used
17/04/08 £52,000
A factory owner has been ordered to pay more than £52,000 in fines and costs after secretly converting part of his textiles mill into flats and breaking numerous fire regulations. The certificated building owned by Surjit Singh Johal (54) in St Saviour's Road, Leicester, had no working fire alarm and had blocked and damaged emergency escape routes. The work to create a dozen flats, also had no fire certificate or planning permission a court heard.
Proceedings were brought following a fire at the property on St Saviours Road Leicester on 6 May 2005. Although the fire was outside the building, firefighters believed that the fire may have spread and entered the building to check. This led to the attendance of specialists from the Fire Safety Group being called in to examine significant contraventions in the Fire Safety measures within the premises. These included:
- Failure to provide an adequate fire alarm
- The fire alarm was inoperative with call points broken or missing
- Failure to provide and protect the escape routes
- The external Fire escape was broken and not securely fixed in place
- Walls had been constructed and rubble from building works was obstructing escape routes
- Work was ongoing to construct residential units within the building without permission
The situation was so dangerous a Prohibition notice was served with immediate effect to ensure the safety of those who had been working and sleeping within the building. However, this notice was subsequently breached by the owner. When Leicester City Council Building Control Officers carried out a visit in April 2006, they not only found construction of the flats had moved forward, but that two men were living in the flats. Prosecutor Michael Auty said:
“What greeted them on that occasion was a number of flats on the first floor; one of those unlocked had two men in it who were in separate beds watching a flat-screen television.”
Johal was called to the factory to explain and he ‘pleaded’ with the council officers not to tell the fire authority. When the fire authority questioned him he said people sometimes broke in and slept in the building.
At an earlier hearing, Johal admitted seven charges of contravening fire certificate requirements, between 1995 and 2005. He admitted failing to maintain a means of escape and making a structural alteration without notifying the fire and rescue authorities of building works. He also admitted obstructing a fire exit door with combustible material, failing to fit a fire resistant door, failing to ensure a means of escape was free from obstruction and failing to ensure a fire alarm was in efficient working order. Johal also admitted contravening a prohibition or restriction notice by using the factory premises for sleeping accommodation.
Judge Ian Collis said he believed Johal was fully aware of his responsibilities and had a duty to protect people in the factory, neighbours and firefighters having to tackle any future blazes at the factory. He said: “You were out to make money without going through the proper channels. There are similar cases I have had to deal with where people have been badly injured because of breaches of health and safety rules.”
Johal, who was first warned about his factory after a fire there in 2001, was fined £16,000 for disobeying the prohibition order and £4,000 for the fire regulation breaches. He was ordered to pay £32,705 costs. He has been given 12 months to pay.
Speaking after the case, Tim Moss, Fire Protection Group Manager said: “Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service seek to engage with businesses in assisting the owners or identified responsible persons to meet their obligations under fire safety legislation. While we are the enforcers of the legislation, we will endeavour to help people to comply and manage their risk.
The visit by the Fire Safety Group on 6 May revealed significant deficiencies in fire safety. Had it not been for the excellent work of firefighters preventing the fire from spreading to the building we could have had a significant loss of life, as there were in excess of 50 people working in the building at the time. The owner then breached the prohibition notice by allowing people to sleep on the premises leading to yet more lives being placed in jeopardy.
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service are pleased that the Judge, when summing up, made it clear that fire regulations are serious and must be complied with. The Judge also noted that as a business man and the owner of the premises, the defendant was clearly responsible for ensuring compliance with fire safety legislation.”
Rick Taylor Head of Community Risk Management said: “Current fire safety legislation is designed to assist employers, owners and occupiers of buildings to manage risk according to their own risk assessments, our role is to ensure those risk assessments are suitable and sufficient. The safety of the public is our primary concern. Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service will continue to utilise all the powers available to us in enforcing fire safety legislation.”
13/02/08
Manslaughter Charges
Taken from the BBC News Website. Two held over depot blast deaths. Two fire service staff were killed in the explosion in December. Two men have been arrested on suspicion of the manslaughter of two firefighters who died tackling a fireworks factory explosion in East Sussex.
BBC South East has learned that factory owner Martin Winter, 50, and Nathan Winter, 23, were held after attending a custody centre voluntarily.
Sussex Police said they were released on bail until 23 April. Brian Wembridge, 63, and Geoff Wicker, 49, died in the blast at Festival Fireworks UK Ltd, near Lewes, in 2006. Twelve other people were injured, including nine firefighters and a police officer.
The cause of the fire and explosion at Marley Farm, in Shortgate, on 3 December 2006 is still under investigation. Brian Wembridge and Geoff Wicker were both married fathers of two. Mr Wembridge and Mr Wicker were both long-serving members of East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, and received full brigade honours at their funeral services in front of firefighters from across the UK.
Full inquests into their deaths have yet to be held as inquiries by Sussex Police and the Health and Safety Executive continue. Plans to rebuild the fireworks depot were given the go-ahead by Lewes District Council last year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/7242343.stm
The owner and landlord of a HIMO (house in multiple occupation) was fined more than £10,000, including costs of over £1,900, after pleading guilty yesterday to six charges relating to inadequate fire safety standards.
Proceedings were brought against Aftab Hussain after he failed to comply with an enforcement notice issued by Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service in December 2006 under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order.
The notice was issued because fire safety inspectors identified a number of fire safety shortfalls at the property in Conegra Road, High Wycombe, including:
- Failure to provide adequate fire detection and emergency lighting
- Failure to adequately protect the means of escape
- Failure to provide adequate fire fighting equipment
He was prosecuted because he failed to put them right within the timescales set.
Mr Hussain pleaded guilty to all counts at High Wycombe Magistrates Court and was fined a total of £10,377.68, including more than £1,900 costs.
The Magistrate commented on the serious nature of the offences and praised the quality of the evidence presented by Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes Fire Authority.
Station Manager Graham Field, Fire Safety Team Leader for Wycombe and South Bucks, said afterwards: “This case clearly demonstrates how our safety officers are inspecting relevant buildings and applying the law to help ensure the safety of our community.”
“Prosecution is only considered in the most serious cases or otherwise as a last resort, but will be pursued with the utmost vigour when necessary.”
The law under which he was prosecuted applies to nearly all premises, with the exception of single private dwellings. In HIMOs, it applies to common areas of the building, where a ‘responsible person’ must ensure adequate fire safety standards through a process of fire risk assessment.
Chris Bailey, Group Manager Prevention, said: “Although this happened in High Wycombe, we would like it to act as a timely reminder to people throughout Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes that these regulations are there to make people safer.”
“We will help people in any way we can to comply with them, but sometimes we need to take legal action.”
Chief Fire Officer Damian Smith said: “This case highlights the dedication and professionalism of our fire safety team, who are committed to making sure that buildings of this type are safe and fit for purpose.”
“I would like to congratulate the team for the tremendous work it has done to bring about this prosecution.”
Since the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRO) came into force in 2006, Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service has issued around 100 notices restricting the use of part or all of a building or requiring fire safety improvements.
http://www.bucksfire.gov.uk/BucksFire/News/HIMOlandlordfined.htm
08/01/08 £12,000
[Workplace Law] In one of the first cases under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, a businessman in Blackburn has been fined £12,000 after his warehouse was branded a "death trap" for having sealed fire exits.
Fire inspectors said the safety measures in place at the Britannia Mill were the worst they had ever seen. The warehouse had:
- No working fire alarm
- No emergency lighting
- No fire risk assessment in place; and
- Piles of flammable boxes blocking escape routes.
The owner of the business, Sefer Enver, admitted to six separate breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. He was fined £2,000 for each of the offences, plus £2,250 costs.
Lancashire Fire Service chiefs, who prosecuted Enver after he ignored a previous enforcement notice, said that a fire in the mill could easily have killed the three people who worked there.
Speaking to the Blackburn Citizen outside the court, fire safety inspection officer Tony Clements said he had never seen a more 'flagrant breach' of fire safety regulations, and warned company owners they had to comply with the rules or face action.
"It was a death trap, potentially lethal. The building was extremely dangerous. The means of escape were totally inadequate and the state of fire precautions was totally unacceptable. There were boxes piled high in escape routes, which could have caught fire and easily toppled. If there had been a fire there the people inside would have been at risk of death.”
"We need to get the message across that it's the duty of every employer to carry out a full risk assessment. If they don't, we will take action."
The case is one of the first prosecutions under the new fire safety regulations, which have been in place since October 2006.In one of the only other cases so far reported, the Co-op Group was fined £250,000 in September 2007 after 38 out of its 41 stores in East Sussex failed to meet proper fire safety standards.
04/01/08 £1,500 + Costs
Cotswold in landmark case against property landlord. Release Date: 9 Jan 2008
A Cotswold private landlord has been convicted of letting accommodation illegally without the required licence in a landmark case that will have a nationwide impact.
Roderick Williams of 20 Melmore Gardens, Cirencester, was found guilty of an offence under section 72(1) of the Housing Act 2004 on 4 January at Gloucester Magistrates Court.
Mr Williams was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay Cotswold District Council’s prosecution costs.
The Council’s Environmental Health Officers visited the rented accommodation at 24 Melmore Gardens, Cirencester following complaints in February 2007 and found that the property required a licence due to the number of people living at the address.
Specialist Environmental Health Officer Rachael Kayani said after the hearing: “This case brought by Cotswold District Council is of particular importance because it clarifies the ambiguous legislation that defines which storeys within a building should be counted when determining if a house in multiple occupation, or part of it, comprises three storeys or more.”
A legal judgment on the case given on 21 December 2007 at Gloucester confirmed that a self-contained ground-floor flat at a property does in fact count towards the total number of storeys. This clarified a grey area within the legislation and enabled the case to proceed.
Rachael added: “This is of national significance and the Council will be informing the Local Authority Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS) so that this guidance can be passed on to other Councils. In some areas, this may mean a significant increase in the number of flats in multiple occupations requiring a licence.”
The Council’s Portfolio holder for Community Services Cllr Sir Edward Horsfall said: “The case will serve as a strong warning to other landlords that may be renting out property without a licence.”
“The licensing system is there to protect tenants’ health and safety and ensure property is well managed and safe to live in. The licence conditions also guard against overcrowding and anti-social behaviour which can sometimes be a problem to neighbours, where accommodation is rented to a number of people sharing.”
Cotswold District Council is seeking out property that requires a licence and has a programme of inspections to ensure that all standards are met. Any landlord who is letting accommodation in a three-storey building to five or more tenants, without a licence, is advised to contact the Council immediately.
The Council will help landlords with their application and provide advice on the licensing conditions. In some cases, it may be possible to grant a short-term exemption subject to the Council’s discretion.
http://www.cotswold.gov.uk/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=8528&tt=cotswold
19/11/07 - £4,750
On Monday 19th November 2007 Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service prosecuted Mr Bullough at Bedlington Magistrates Court for breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order following a serious fire at the Repro Centre, a furniture shop in Ashington, of which he was the owner. Mr Bullough pleaded guilty to the following offences:
Article 12 - Liquefied Petroleum Gas Cylinders stored in the premises and blocking the means of escape - £1,000
Article 14 - Boxes and packaging blocking escape routes and staircases - £1,000
Article 14 - Escape from rear yard padlocked - £750
Article 14 Blocked fire exit ground floor - £200
Article 8 - Fire Doors held in the open position - £300
Fire Service Costs - £1,000
Northumberland County Council Legal Costs - £500
Total £4,750 payable within 28 days
16/09/07 - £250,000
[The Argus] Co-op bosses have been fined £250,000 for flouting fire safety regulations. The lives of staff and customers were put at risk because of breaches at six stores, a court heard yesterday.
http://www.cfoa.org.uk/cfoa_public/article.asp?id=264&did=47&aid=7054&st=&oaid=-1
http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/localnews/display.var.1690860.0.supermarket_feels_the_heat_over_fire_safety_record.php
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