Fire Safety jailing sets alarm bells ringing

From Firco Ltd:

Fire safety jailing sets alarm bells ringing


If the metaphorical alarm bells were not already ringing for businesses that fail to comply with the legal requirements of fire safety law they are certainly ringing loudly now following the jailing of a hotel owner and the owner of a company contracted to provide Fire Risk Assessments.

David Liu, who runs The Dial Hotel and Market Inn, Mansfield, and John O’Rourke, who runs Mansfield Fire Protection Services were both jailed for 8 months plus costs. David Liu after pleading guilty to 15 Fire Safety offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and John O’Rourke, after pleading guilty to two breaches of Fire Safety requirements in relation to the inadequacy of Fire Risk Assessments he provided for Mr. Liu’s hotels.

Mr. Liu was prosecuted because he was the responsible person for both premises, and failed to make sure they were safe for customers staying there. Mr. O’Rourke was prosecuted because he carried out Fire Risk Assessments at both hotels, but those assessments were wholly inadequate.

In summing up the trial 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.

Tom Welland our Commercial Director comments “By introducing the concept of a Responsible Person for every building, the RRFSO has identified, much more clearly than before, the necessity of fire prevention and the very real consequences of failure to adequately discharge that responsibility. Mounting prosecutions brought against individuals and businesses mean that no one can now afford to ignore their legal duties. This case illustrates that even when the responsible person contracts an outside company to provide fire safety services it remains their duty to ensure the provider of those is competent, so is equally culpable.”