A waste recycling company has been fined £40,000 plus costs after pleading guilty to 16 breaches of the Fire Safety Order.
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| Pic courtesy of Dorset Fire and Rescue |
Total Waste Ltd admitted to serious fire safety deficiencies at Bournemouth Crown Court on 18 January. As well as the fine, the company was ordered to pay a total of £22,688.82 in costs.
An investigation carried out by Dorset Fire and Rescue Service found that the company’s premises, which was used for paper recycling, had poor means of escape, a number of blocked fire exits and a disabled fire alarm, among other offences.
Breaches first came to light after a planning enforcement officer from the Poole Council raised the alarm following an unrelated visit to the building in 2008.
A fire safety officer then visited Total Waste, based in Creekmoor, Poole, where he found offences so serious that he immediately served a Prohibition Notice on the property.
Group manager for Dorset fire service, Craig Baker, said: “Officers found extremely serious fire safety breaches that, in our opinion offered an immediate threat to the employees of Total Waste Ltd, therefore I believe in this case the fire authority had no option but to take action and prosecute the company.
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| ‘Serious’ fire safety breaches at Total Waste Ltd |
“We take our enforcement role very seriously and today we have taken action to prosecute this company but this is the result of very serious breaches of the fire safety legislation, we want to work with businesses to reduce risk.”
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