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National High Street Firm Fined For Serious Breached of Fire Safety
The high street retailer New Look has been fined £400,000 and ordered to pay £136,052 in costs after pleading guilty to serious breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the "RRO"). It is the largest fine under the RRO.

London Fire Brigade prosecuted New Look following a serious fire at their Oxford Street store on 26th April 2007. Thirty fire engines and approximately 150 firefighters were needed to tackle the blaze and crews remained at the scene for the next three days. The first call to the Brigade was not from a member of staff but from an office worker in an adjacent building. This delay meant that when crews arrived the fire had already developed and had broken through the second floor windows. Despite the building's fire alarm sounding. It was reset on at least one occasion.

Over 450 people evacuated from the store and surrounding premises. A significant amount of Oxford Street was closed to traffic and the public which resulted in businesses being closed for a further two days after the blaze.

Following the fire, the Brigade carried out several fire safety inspections at the premises and found a substantial number of breaches of fire legislation. The most serious of these was an inadequate fire risk assessment which was found to have a number of failures, including no record of appropriate fire procedures including the correct one to adopt when the fire alarm activated.

The RRO requires that the responsible person (in a workplace, the employer) to carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment and act on its findings.

Another significant breach was the insufficient training of staff which led to a delayed evacuation of the premises and staff being ill prepared to respond to a fire alarm signal. Staff did not use the appropriate fire exits to evacuate the public which meant that approximately 150 people were evacuated through the main entrance which was directly underneath the fire on the second floor.

Other serious deficiencies included all of the basement fire exits being unavilable to members of staff and the public due to the failure of an interface between the swipe card system and the fire alarm. The swipe card system should have been connected to the fire alrm system and have deactivated the doors. Not all members of staff were issued with swipe cards and green emergency break glass - designed to over ride the door locks - were fitted on the wrong side of the doors in the basement. The premises was also found to have significant storage in escape routes on all floors.

The Judge formally commended Station Manager Martin Redmond and retired Watch Manager Steven Lewis-Mitchell for their great care and skill in investigating this case. He also said that the whole fire safety team should be thanked by the public for the work they do.

Councillor Brian Coleman AM FRSA, Chairman of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, said "Good business management includes taking responsibility for fire safety, knowing the law and acting on it. This conviction shows that large companies are not exempt from prosecution and that London Fire Brigade will take action when businesses do not take their fire safety responsibilties seriously. Failure to comply with the law can, as this case has shown, result in a substantial fine."

Sentencing of New Look took place at Southwark Crown Court on 25 November 2009 after they pleaded guilty to two breaches of the RRO.
 
Ipswich Company Fined for Nine Offences

A company in Ipswich was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs in excess of £7,000 following a guilty plea to nine offences under the Fire Safety Order.

These included an unsuitable risk assessment; inappropriate storage of cylinders and fire doors wedged open; emergency routes blocked or obstructed; exits not sufficiently illuminated: failure to maintain structural fire precautions, alarm systems, emergency lighting and fire fighting equipment; failure to appoint one or more competent persons to assist in preventative and protective measures and inadequate fire safety t raining provided to employees.
 
Hotelier breaches the Fire Safety Order in Brandon, Ipswich

An hotelier was charged with four breaches of the Fire Safety Order. These included bedrooms without means of escape, inadequate emergency lighting / artificial lighting, incorrect testing of the fife alarm system and a prohibition notice being issued to stop the second floor being used.

However he continued to ignore recommendations and fire safety officers believed that the risks would ultimately lead to fire deaths in the hotel.

He was fined a total of £145,000 for the offences and ordered to pay £49.488 to Suffolk Fire & Rescue and £8,039 for legal costs he had claimed and was not entitled to.
 
Indian Restaurant Fined - Bury St Edmunds

The owner of an Indian restaurant pleaded guilty to the charge of contravening a prohibition notice when it was discovered that he was allowing people to sleep above his restaurant despite being issued a notice to stop this practice. As there was only an escape route into an enclosed courtyard he was putting them at risk.

The court ordered him to pay in excess of £7,000 which included a fine, costs and a contribution towards the services bringing the case.
 
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