Massage parlour manager gets community service for fire safety breaches

From info4fire.com

Massage parlour manager gets community service for fire safety breaches
12 July 2011

The manager of a massage parlour has been found guilty of five breaches of the Fire Safety Order 2005.

Dawn Donoghue, 46, was ordered to do 60 hours unpaid community service as well as pay £240 in court costs for safety breaches at Scarlett’s, in Prestwich, Manchester.

Appearing at Bolton Crown Court on 8 July, Ms Donoghue pleaded guilty to five fire safety breaches, including a failure to provide an adequate fire alarm at the two-storey terraced building.

Fire safety officers, who audited the property in May last year, also found that there was no fire risk assessment made and a failure to provide a system of maintenance for firefighting equipment. There was no system of training in place for a responsible person, as well as no maintenance for the checking of fire exit doors.

According to the Daily Mail, prosecutor Joseph Hart said that firemen found obstacles in the corridor and an emergency exit being used as a ‘changing area’.

“This was a high risk environment with low lighting,” he said. “There were rooms which were dark and dingy, equipped with restraints, manacles and chains.”

Donoghue, who rented the premises, said she had thought fire regulations were the responsibility of the landlord, according to the newspaper. Despite this, the breaches were still her 'full responsibility,' Manchester Fire and Rescue Serivce said.