First Fire Risk Assessment case ends with Prison Sentence

On 8 July 2011, Nottingham Crown Court dealt with what is believed to be the first successful prosecution of a fire risk assessor. A prison sentence was imposed upon the assessor and also the operator of the premises concerned.

The law

Article 5(3) of the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order places a duty to comply with the Order on persons other than responsible persons under Article 3 to the extent that they have control of premises.

Article 5(4) makes clear that when a person has by virtue of any contract or tenancy an obligation for the maintenance or repair of premises, or the safety of the premises they will be treated as a person who has control of the premises to the extent that their obligation so extends.

The Case

Local Solicitor Browne Jacobson advised Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire Authority throughout the investigation and prosecution of Mr Liu, the operator of two hotels, and Mr O’Rourke who had conducted risk assessments in respect of both premises.

Mr David Liu was the licensee and a responsible person for the purposes of the Order under Article 3 for both premises. Mr John O’Rourke, trading as Mansfield Fire Protection Services, carried out fire risk assessments at both premises and was responsible under Article 5(3) of the Order for ensuring that the risk assessments were suitable and sufficient.
Deficiencies at the premises included:

• Fire risk assessments were not suitable and sufficient
• inadequate fire doors at the premises compromising exit routes
• an emergency exit was locked
• emergency lighting at the premises was inadequate
• inadequate fire detection at the premises
• fire extinguishers were not sufficiently maintained
• the fire alarm and emergency lighting were not sufficiently maintained.

Having originally proceeded on not-guilty pleas in the Magistrates Court and a defence statement having been filed by Mr Liu, both Mr Liu and Mr O’Rourke entered guilty pleas in the Crown Court. Prior to sentence the fire authority applied for and successfully obtained a Financial Circumstances Order forcing the defendants to disclose their financial affairs. Both were sent to prison for eight months and ordered to pay the full prosecution costs claimed (Mr Liu – £15,000 and Mr O’Rourke £5,862.38).

The fire Risk Assessor

Mr John O’Rourke had produced the risk assessments in return for payment. There was a clear contract between the premises operator Liu and O’Rourke in accordance with Article 5(4) thereby engaging the provisions of Article 5(3).

The risk assessments failed to identify deficiencies with means of escape, fire separation and fire warning systems at both premises which were of such a low standard that persons were at risk of death or serious injury in the case of fire. Evidence was also provided from an enforcement officer at Nottinghamshire and City of Nottingham Fire Authority highlighting the significant deviations from ‘HM Government Guidance for Fire Risk Assessment’ in places providing sleeping accommodation.

The importance of ensuring the competence of persons offering services to undertake fire safety assessments was clearly accepted by the judge who stated:

“It seems to me an example has to be set about risk assessors, who are not with qualifications…”

In summary

All persons who take on any duties under the Order are accountable for their actions but primary responsibly rests with employers (occupiers and owners), however, Article 5(3) was clearly designed and drafted to ensure that others may be caught.

The sentence of eight months imprisonment with an order to pay the prosecution costs in full is significant. Not only does it send out a message regarding the seriousness of these offences, but also demonstrates that even when custody is imposed, the public purse will be protected if courts have sufficient information regarding defendant’s financial affairs. The court in this case was assisted by the prosecution obtaining Financial Circumstance Orders prior to sentence.

Thanks go to Browne Jacobsen for first publishing this excellent article http://www.brownejacobson.com

Fire Safety is your responsibility – don’t leave it to chance

UK Fire Association

If you were to have a health and safety inspector visit today, how do you honestly think you would score with fire safety on your site?

Have you ever asked yourself that question? If not, you should, you would be surprised at the answer if you were honest to yourself.

An article has just been written about the services we offer here at Firecrest UK Ltd. and it has been published on the UK Fire Association website.

The UK Fire Association have a particular code of practice that all members must to adhere to in order to be able to join their association. Firecrest UK Ltd. are proud to be a member of the UK Fire Association and you can read more about us here.

Firecrest UK Ltd continuing investment

Firecrest adds new vehicles to the fleet

Despite the economic downturn, we here at Firecrest UK Ltd. are still investing in our business and adding new equipment to help develop the services we offer to our customers.

Recently we have added two new Transit vans to our fleet of vehicles. Reinvesting in new equipment is vital as it helps us keep to our prompt call outs and customer demands.

New vans added to our Fire Training Fleet

Each service vehicle is fully equiped to carry out our regular maintenance contracts for fire alarms, emergency lighting maintenance as well as giving us the capacity to carry our training materials to deliver our fire safety training courses.

Whether you need a quotation or advice on maintaining your fire safety equipment or would like some help and advice on completing a fire risk assessment, please feel free contact Firecrest UK Ltd.

Save 10% on Fire Safety Bookings

Firecrest UK Ltd. have a fantastic offer available and save you can SAVE a little money on our services.

If you need any of the following, you can save 10% on the following Services we offer:

• Fire Warden Training
• Basic Fire Training Courses
• Fire Risk Assessment
• Fire Alarm Maintenance
• Fire Extinguisher Servicing
• PAT Testing

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First Class Support helps UKFA Member Win Major Contracts

In today’s fast paced society, employers need to know they can rely on suppliers to deliver. No longer can people wait, particularly when the threat of fire not only can destroy businesses, but legislation means employees must be protected at all times whilst at work.

It is this level of service and reputation that has helped Firecrest UK Ltd. secure a major 3 year contract with Nottingham Trent University who have over 2,500 fire extinguishers that need maintained and in operational condition at all times.

We are very pleased to be associated with Firecrest, who are responsive and deliver all aspects of the contract in a very timely and efficient manner. We like the idea that this is an extended family business involving Director Ian Emmonds and his wife as Company Secretary, his son and cousin as engineers and his brother-in-law as office manager.

All the signs are that there can be high levels of trust – a very important factor in the awarding of any contract for the University.

Since being awarded the contract, Nottingham Trent University has refurbished a building and have placed a further order for an additional 100 plus Fire Extinguishers and Jo Bird Tough Store Cabinets.

No Nonsense, Reactive and Proactive is Key

Balfour Beatty is an infrastructure services company that rely on Service. They have demanding clients and deadlines to achieve and need suppliers to deliver efficiently and on time.

Tony Steward, Manager for Balfour Beatty said:

As a Manager responsible for over £1M worth of assets and 13 different sites I needed a company that was reactive, proactive reliable, approachable and knowledgeable. FIRECREST UK LTD rectified over 90% of the problems that my Managers identified within 24 hours or were planned and completed within 48hrs.

Firecrest UK is one of more than 50 member companies which comprise the UKFA, a trade association of independent companies involved in manufacture, supply, servicing and installation of a whole range of fire and safety equipment.

If you would like help and advice on assessing and implementing a fire safety solution that meets your obligations from a family run, no nonsense and reliable contractor, please contact us – click here for details.

Employers are liable if Fire Safety Tasks to non Trained Employees

With all the hoo ha going on with the election, you may have missed that a new regulation being quietly introduced by the now previous government relating to fire safety.

Fire Safety Regulations 2010

The Fire Safety (Employees’ Capabilities) (England) Regulations 2010 was slipped into law on 6 April 2010 to plug a gap in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (or FSO – the main fire legislation) after realising that when the FSO was written they missed out a piece that was required by Europe.

The new regulation has only one requirement: that employers delegating fire safety tasks take into account the fire safety capabilities of employees (this was already implied but is now made an explicit requirement.

In other words, if you give important fire safety jobs and responsibilities to staff who are not competent, you will probably be in breach of the law.

This means if you fail to train staff appropriately in their roles, enforcement action, in the form of notices and even prosecution and fines, is a real possibility.

Therefore, if you delegate staff to do fire risk assessments, weekly fire alarm tests, monthly emergency lighting tests, fire safety equipment checks, or Fire Warden duties, etc, you need to ensure they have the right skills, knowledge and experience to do it properly, what to do if there is a problem and be satisfied that they are capable and competent for the task depending on complexity.

This is a good time to ensure risk assessments, standards, training and supervision are appropriate, up-to-date and the provisions of your health and safety policy are being applied in practice.

For help and advice on staff training needs, please contact Firecrest on 0800 783 05 88 or send us an email and we will contact you.

Fire Extinguisher Documents

Below are a number of documents that you can download and print off.

Standard AFFF COSHH Sheet

Pentspray Water Additive COSHH

L2 Powder COSHH Sheet

High Performance AFFF COSHH Sheet

Carbon Dioxide Data Sheet

ABC Powder COSHH Sheet

3% AFF Powder Foam Sheet

Wet Chemical COSHH Sheet

Standard AFFF COSHH Sheet

If you require any further information, please feel free to get in touch – Contact Us.

Fire at a Retail Store results in record fine for the store owner

A fire that ripped through a flagship clothing retailer in Oxford Street, London, resulted in structural damage so severe that the parts of the building left standing had to be demolished.

Thirty five fire appliances and 150 fire fighters attended the incident, during which around 450 people from the store and surrounding premises were evacuated.

Fortunately, no one was killed, but as the subsequent investigation by the London Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) revealed, this was more by luck than judgement.

The fire took complete hold of the building because the retailer’s staff had no idea what to do in the circumstances. They didn’t even notify the FRS – an office worker in an adjacent building did that, and the delay allowed the fire to quickly spread and break through the second floor windows by the time the fire fighters arrived.

Incredibly, despite the building’s fire alarm sounding, the alarm was reset at least once and eventually, around 150 customers were evacuated through a door right beneath the seat of the fire on the second floor.

The company pleaded guilty in court to two breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO) and was fined £400,000 as follows:

1. Failing to carry out and produce a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, including no record of the appropriate procedures to be taken during a fire alarm – £250,000.
2. Failing to train staff adequately – £150,000

The company was also ordered to pay costs of £136,000.

This is the largest fine under the FSO to date and was so high because the company’s breaches endangered the lives of so many.

It highlights the legislation is there to serve a purpose – the requirement to complete risk assessments and save lives.

As an occupier of non-domestic premises, you must carry out a fire risk assessment. It must identify potential sources of fire and what control measures you deem necessary to prevent one. In addition – as this case proves – it must include details of how employees, visitors, contractors, customers, disabled people etc, should be evacuated.

This is a good time to ensure risk assessments, standards, staff fire safety training and supervision are appropriate, up-to-date and the provisions of your health and safety policy are being applied in practice.

If you have any queries or would like some advice or would like a professional carry out a fire risk assessment, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01623 861331.

How and what Fire Extinguisher do I use in a Fire

Appropriate fire training courses will give your staff the skills needed to tackle a fire safely. If used incorrectly, fire extinguishers can actually make a fire far worse & put the user at risk. So ensure everyone in your building knows how to use a fire extinguisher safely with the guide below.

What fire extinguishers are designed for what types of fires

Before you can begin to tackle a fire you need to understand what the different types of fires are. There are six different categories of fire which are defined in classes A – F, knowing these classes and the corresponding chemicals to combat them is the core basis of fire extinguisher safety.

• A class fires are the most common type of fires and begin when solid material such as wood or cloth become hot and are ignited.  These should be tackled with water based fire extinguishers.

• B class fires refer to liquid fires such as petrol & oil, foam or Dry powder fire extinguishers are the safest way to deal with these fires.
• C class fires are caused by flammable gas and can be put out by using powder fire extinguishers. Powder fire extinguishers make a good investment as they can also tackle liquid and solid fires.
• D class fires refer to fires on metals such as steel, uranium and potassium. Special metal fire extinguishers can be used on these types of fire as other extinguishers may aggravate the fire.
• E class electrical fires sometimes known as E class are best tackled by a carbon dioxide / CO2 extinguisher
• F class fires are caused by cooking oil or fat igniting. Wet chemical fire extinguishers are designed to put out class F fires and can also be used on class a fires.

Knowing which extinguishers put out which fires is the foundation of fire extinguisher safety. Using the wrong type of fire extinguisher can have devastating consequences as it can result in spreading the fire further.

Top tips for fire extinguisher safety

1. You should make people aware that they should only tackle a fire if it’s safe to do so. If the fire is in early stages and not in any immediate danger of spreading quickly then it’s probably safe to extinguish it but each situation should be assessed for safety.
2. If there is a lot of smoke in the area then it’s best to sound the alarm, evacuate the building and not stay to tackle the fire. Smoke inhalation can be highly dangerous so leave it to the fire brigade.
3. Fire and smoke spread quickly and not always through a visible route. For example, smoke can spread through air conditioning systems which could make escaping more difficult. Only use a fire extinguisher if the smoke or fire won’t block your exit.
4. If you do decide to tackle the fire then position yourself in between the fire and your nearest exit so you have a means of escape should the fire become worse.
5. Keep low when you tackle a fire as heat and smoke rise.

Fire extinguisher training is a key part of fire safety so make sure your staff know what to do in an emergency situation. For more advice on how to use a fire extinguisher safely, contact fire risk assessment and ask about their fire extinguisher training courses.

Click here to contact us or call 0800 7830588

Fire Safety Breaches Restaurant Fined

A former restaurant manager has been ordered to pay over £7,000 in fines and costs after pleading guilty to serious breaches of fire safety legislation following a prosecution brought by the London Fire Brigade.

Mr Wei Chen, who was managing Kan’s Chinese and Thai Cuisine at the time of the breaches, admitted guilt on 10 contraventions of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Sentencing occurred on Monday 26 October 2009 at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court.

In June 2007, visiting fire inspectors discovered a number of fire safety breaches and an enforcement notice was issued requiring Mr Wei Chen to remedy the faults by 11 April 2008. A further inspection took place on 29 April 2008 and all of the fire safety breaches were still evident. These included no fire warning system, no fire exit signs and inadequate fire safety training to staff. There was also no fire risk assessment done for the premises. It was noted in court that there had been a history of non compliance with fire regulations dating back to December 2005.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order places a duty on a defined ‘responsible person’ for the premises (the person who controls the premises e.g. a landlord/manager/owner) to carry out a fire risk assessment, take appropriate measures to minimise the risk of fire and implement general fire precautions to protect people in the premises if a fire occurs. The assessment and the fire precautions must be kept under review by the ‘responsible person’.

In this case Mr Wei Chen was the responsible person. Assistant Commissioner for fire safety regulation Steve Turek said:

“Knowing about fire safety is not an option, if you are the responsible person it is a necessity and if people do not adhere to the legislation then as shown in this case we can prosecute.

The general public should feel safe from fire when going out to places like restaurants and the responsible person must make sure their premises comply with the regulations.

All premises owners and operators must undertake a fire safety risk assessment, which is now mandatory, act upon its findings and put in place an emergency plan.”

To avoid being in this position, you could ask Firecrest UK Ltd. to complete a fire risk assessment and advise you on what you need to do to ensure this sort of thing doesn’t happen to YOU!

For details in how we can help you ensure you are fully compliant with current legislation, please contact us on 0800 783 0588 or send us your details and we will contact you.