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First fire risk assessor jailed for breaches of the FSO.

 A fire risk assessor and a hotel manager have been jailed for eight months for breaches of the FSO.

David Liu, who runs The Dial Hotel and Market Inn, both in Mansfield, had previously pleaded guilty at Nottingham Crown Court to 15 offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, while John O’Rourke of Mansfield Fire Protection Services pleaded guilty to two offences under the legislation. The Judge said that the time had come to send out a message to those who conduct fire risk assessments, and to hoteliers who are prepared to put profit before safety.

Officers from Nottingham Fire and Rescue Service visited both hotels as part of a routine inspection. They found that both premises were being used to provide sleeping accommodation on the upper floors and that fire precautions, which should have been provided to safeguard the occupants in the event of a fire, were inadequate.

Due to the serious risk to life, they issued prohibition notices preventing any further use of both premises for sleeping accommodation until suitable improvements had been made.

Mr O’Rourke was prosecuted because he had prepared fire risk assessments for both premises. However, the prosecution stated, that the fire risk assessments failed to identify a number of significant deficiencies which would have placed the occupants at serious risk in the event of a fire.

The offences (common to both hotels) which Mr Liu, as the responsible person, pleaded guilty to were:

• A lack of a suitable and sufficient  fire risk assessment
• A failure to ensure effective means of escape with doors leading onto corridors not being fire resisting or having self-closers fitted
• A failure to ensure that emergency routes and exits were provided with emergency lighting
• A failure to ensure the premises were equipped with appropriate firefighting equipment, detectors and alarms in that there was no fire  detection within the bedrooms
• A failure to ensure that equipment and devices provided were subject to a suitable system of maintenance in that the fire alarm system, emergency lighting system and firefighting equipment were not tested.

In addition at the Dial Hotel, officers found both staircases from upper levels terminating in the same ground floor area with no alternative escape routes or separation, a locked fire exit door, and exit routes obstructed by combustible materials.

The other offence at the Market Inn related to a missing fire door and a window not being fire resisting.

As well as jailing Mr. Liu he was also ordered to pay costs of £15,000.

John O’Rourke, as a person other than the responsible person who had some control of the premises, pleaded guilty to two counts (one for each hotel) of failing to provide a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment. He was also ordered to pay costs of £5,860.

Breaches of the Fire Safety Order

Restaurant owner fined for fire safety offences

Mr Abdul Hamid Choudhury, of Oxford Road, Gloucester, appeared at Gloucester Magistrates Court on Friday 17th June 2011. He pleaded guilty to ten charges of failing to comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 at The Connoisseur Tandoori Restaurant, 22 London Road, Gloucester. Previously, in November 2009, the fire service was called to a fire in accommodation above the restaurant where several breaches of fire safety legislation were discovered. Fire safety enforcement officers conducted an investigation and found that unauthorised sleeping accommodation for staff had been provided on the first and second floors. A fire alarm system had not been provided and the structural fire precautions were insufficient to secure the escape route.

The defendant was found guilty of the following matters:

1. Ground floor partition and glazing between the restaurant and escape route was not fire-resisting
2. Ground floor door between the restaurant and escape route was not fire-resisting
3. Employees were not provided with fire safety training
4. The walls of the staircase enclosure had been lined with laminate wood flooring
5. Three bedroom doors on the first floor were not fire-resisting
6. A kitchen was situated within the second floor escape route
7. Second floor laundry room door was not fire-resisting
8. Emergency lighting was not provided on the sleeping accommodation escape route
9. No fire alarm and smoke detectors had been provided
10. A Fire Risk Assessment had not been completed

Mr Choudhury was fined £2,900 and ordered to pay costs of £1,500. He was also required to pay a £15 victim surcharge.