Landlords Should Avail Fire Safety Management Service to Ensure Safety of the Residents

A Landlord was given a 24-week prison sentence (suspended for 18 months) and ordered to pay £12,000 fine for failing to comply with Fire regulation and placing a person at risk of death or serious injury. 

The Landlords building included a children’s nursery, a women’s centre and three residential flats. His premise caught fire in April 2017, resulting from an electricity meter placed at the bottom of a communal stairway. This blocked residents’ only exit and entry to their accommodation. 

The Court revealed that the building had no Fire Safety Risk Assessment to ‘address’ the multiple uses of the property, ‘despite assurances by the Landlord to planning chiefs that there would be sufficient Fire Doors and adequate detectors’. Firefighters also later found, after tackling the Fire, that Fire alarms were not working, as ‘no power was supplied to the system’. 

The Landlord admitted failing to comply with Fire regulations in relation to Fire doors, locks on emergency doors, provision of emergency exit routes and ‘failing to ensure that the premises and facilities were subject to suitable systems of maintenance’. 

London Fire Risk Assessments advice to Landlords: Fire Safety Management is the responsibility of the appointed ‘Responsible Person’ of the premise. And as outlined above if you do not fulfil your responsibility it can easily result in serious, life threatening consequences. 

Having a building with multi use occupancy is complicated and that is why you should consider using a Fire Protection Consultant – someone who is ‘qualified’ to carryout a thorough Fire Safety Risk Assessment.

Once a thorough Fire Safety Inspection of the building is carried out a Fire Safety Risk Assessment will be compiled. These are the ‘parts’ of a Fire Safety Risk Assessment:

• Fire Safety Inspection
• Fire Risk Assessment
• Fire Safety Management Plan – Significant Findings
• Fire Safety Policy
• Fire Safety Emergency Plan

If you wish to discuss any Fire Safety issues with a Fire Protection Consultant please contact London Fire Risk Assessments friendly team – 01689 89087.

Check Whether Your Fire Risk Assessor Is Qualified or Not

At this time it is imperative that you check the accreditations of the person that will be carrying out the Fire Safety Inspection on your premise. 

If you carry out a general Internet search so many London based Fire Safety Protection Companies come up offering all kind of Fire Risk Assessment ‘deals’. But wait - don’t be tempted by price, do your research and double-check the Company’s’ accreditation and most importantly the accreditation of the Fire Risk Assessor carrying out the Fire Safety Inspection.

There are only 337 registered, qualified Risk Assessors in England!

An example for you to consider:

Just recently a leading Fire Alarm Company’s Fire Safety Consultant, who was carrying out a Fire Risk Assessment, contacted London Fire Risk Assessments asking; “I was hoping you could assist me with the following. Does a building that would of complied with fire safety/building regulations at the time of construction, need to be upgraded to meet current legislation? Mainly with regard to fire doors, means of escape and final exits.”

Now, should this Fire Safety Consultant be asking an Independent Fire Risk Assessment Company these kind of questions? Should he not know the answer or even ask one of his peers within his own Company? More importantly should he be carrying out Fire Safety Inspections and compiling Fire Risk Assessments?

One of the best places to find a ‘Qualified’ Fire Risk Assessor is the Institution of Fire Engineers. On their homepage you will find a Risk Assessors Register – just enter your postcode and a list of ‘Qualified’ Assessors will come up in your area. Alternatively you can contact London Fire Risk Assessments they are members of the Institution of Fire Engineers, Registered as Fire Risk Assessors and fully insured to do the job.  Contact their friendly team now on 01689 890879 for a free quotation.

London Fire Brigade prosecutes a Finchley based restaurateur over Fire Safety!

 

The owner of a Finchley restaurant was arrested as he tried to leave the country on holiday, after ‘persistently failing to address Fire Safety failings.’

London Fire Brigade noted that the leaseholder of the Restaurant was prosecuted after a series of failures from 2011 onwards. That year, Fire Safety Officers fro the London Fire Brigade visited the restaurant after a kitchen Fire, finding a number of serious failings including a defective Fire Alarm, wedged open or poorly fitted Fire Doors and inadequate escape routes.

After follow up visits, Officers found that none of the Fire Safety failings identified had been addressed; an Enforcement Notice was issued requiring the necessary works to be completed within a month. In July 2012, Inspectors received information that people were sleeping on the premise. They visited again and found that the same Fire Safety deficiencies remained unaddressed while a ground floor exit was blocked by an electricity generator.

At this point, the Officers decided the issues were serious enough that they presented a serious risk to life in the event of a Fire, with a Prohibition Notice issued for residential use of the premises. Legal action began last year against the Owner and initially he failed to attend court, with a warrant issued.  He remained at large until his arrest at an airport this year as he set off for a short break.

He pleaded guilty to six Fire Safety offences and was handed a six moth suspended prison sentence, as well as being ordered to complete 80 hours of community service, in addition to paying £10,000 in prosecution costs. The offences he pleaded guilty to included failures to:

·         Have a Fire Risk Assessment Completed

·         Have a suitable Fire Alarm

·         Ensure Emergency exits were clear

·         Ensure a protected Fire Escape

·         Have Fire Doors installed

·         Maintain Fire Safety Equipment

·         Comply with the Enforcement Notice.

The Assistant Commissioner for Fire Safety at London Fire Brigade, commented “The Owner persistent refusal to address the concerns of our Fire Safety Officer meant that the restaurant and floors above it were nothing short of a ‘death trap’ putting the lives of all those working and sleeping there at risk if ever a Fire had broken out.”

“This is the First case we have prosecuted where the issuing of a warrant has resulted in the defendant being arrested and it should send a strong message that where we find business owners not taking their Fire Safety responsibilities seriously, we will do all we can to ensure they are brought to book and prosecuted”.

With the delivery of such a strong message from the London Fire Brigade all London Restaurants should take their Fire Safety responsibilities seriously. The first thing to check – is there a current Fire Safety Assessment in place. If not then one of the best places to search for a ‘Qualified’ Assessor is the Institution of Fire Engineers – they have a Risk Assessors Register on their website. All you need to do is put in your postcode and a list of ‘Qualified’ Assessors will come up in your area.

Once you have appointed a Fire Safety Risk Assessor they will carry out a thorough Inspection/Audit of the premise. They will identify any deficiencies and outline them in the Fire Safety Risk Assessment.

London Fire Risk Assessments are an independent Fire Risk Consultancy based in London and their core business is Fire Safety Risk Assessments. If you have any Fire Safety concerns or need to book a Fire Safety Inspection and Audit then call them now on 01689 890879 or click here for a free quotation.