Fireskills

A fire risk assessor and a hotel manager have both been jailed for eight months for fire safety offences.  David Liu, who runs The Dial Hotel and Market Inn, both in Mansfield, had previously pleaded guilty to 15 offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

John O’Rourke of Mansfield Fire Protection Services pleaded guilty to two offences under the same legislation.

Sentencing the two defendants last Friday (8 July) at Nottingham Crown Court, 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.

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 fire risk assessments failed to identify a number of significant deficiencies, said the prosecution, which would have placed the occupants at serious risk in the event of a fire.

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

Mr Liu 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 ordered to pay costs of £5,860.

Fireskills have launched a new look website designed to make navigation simple and user friendly.  The site presents our services and information in an easily understood format. There are also Case Studies that show the benefits of working with Fireskills.

The new website launched in August 2011 was designed in association with The Firsty Group of Newbury. The Firsty Group provide a complete web development service, from the initial design and build to monitoring and updating them.  Neil Buckner said ‘ I cannot recommend Jamie and The Firsty Group  highly enough.  They listened to our requirements and worked with us to achieve a Website that we are very pleased with.  They communicated with us throughout and the cost was extremely competitive compared to many other local agencies’

If you have any comments about the new website please do leave comments which we can review.

A man from Chatham has received a four-year jail sentence following a series of fires at DIY in which one store was destroyed.

Benny Dighton, 28, from Chatham pleaded guilty to two counts of arson with intent to endanger life and one count of attempted arson with intent to endanger life at two B&Q stores and a Homebase store in Kent. He was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on 27 August.

Around 90 firefighters spent nearly two days tackling the which destroyed the Homebase Store in Aylesford.

A Birmingham landlord has had to pay £4,500 after failing to maintain smoke alarms at a property he had rented out on a multi-occupancy basis to four tenants, one of whom died in a fire.

Birmingham Magistrates Court heard on 6 August that two smoke alarms installed in the house had no batteries in them at the time of the fire. The prosecution was brought by Birmingham City Council under the Housing Act 2004.

The landlord, Mumtaz Mohammed from Sparkhill, pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that fire alarms were in good working order, under Regulation 4 of the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006. Mr Mohammed was fined £2,500 and was also ordered to pay the council’s legal costs of £2,000.

Taj Sikander was asleep at the property on 18 November 2009 after working a night shift when the fire broke out at around 11.00 am. He is believed to have died from smoke inhalation and the cause of the fire is thought to have been a faulty fridge freezer. The other three tenants were out of the house.

A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council said: “This case has sadly highlighted the fact that landlords who fail to comply with their legal obligations leave the council with no choice other than to prosecute them. It is hoped that this tragic case will serve as a warning to other landlords in the city that they should ensure that all their properties have adequate fire safety measures in place.”

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Numerous alleged breaches of fire safety legislation in court buildings and prisons have been revealed following a Freedom of Information disclosure made by the Communities and Local Government department.

The development comes after Info4fire broke the news in June of an enforcement notice detailng breaches of the Fire Safety Order at its own headquarters in London.  A subsequent BBC investigation also found other government buildings in breach of the legislation.

Many of the 15 enforcement notices disclosed have been served on the Ministry of Justice or HM Prison Service.

One enforcement notice relates to a court premises that had no suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment and no adequate first aid firefighting procedures or training. In addition, a fire at the premises had revealed the lack of a suitable evacuation plan or training in emergency procedures, highlighted by officers unwittingly returning defendants from court to a custody area which was smoke logged.