We take a look at some of the latest and most important fire safety prosecutions in the UK.
GB pound 200,000 fine for nuclear plant
The Atomic Weapons Establishment, which provides warheads for the Trident nuclear deterrent, was fined GB pound 200,000 for fire safety breaches following a fire at its Aldermaston, Berkshire, site in August 2010, during which an employee suffered burns to his arm and face.
Ashley Emery told the Reading Crown Court that he was breaking volatile substances into a plastic bucket as part of a process to manufacture explosives. The bucket’s contents ignited, and a fireball erupted in his face. The fire, which took place in an area without nuclear explosives, took five hours to extinguish.
HSE inspector Dave Norman told the BBC after the fine was announced, “The fire could have caused multiple casualties, and it was entirely preventable had better control systems been in place.”
Judge Richard Parkes QC fined the company GB pound 200,000 and ordered it to pay GB pound 80,258 in costs.
Three landlords guilty of breaches
In three recent cases, landlords have been in the dock for fire safety violations.
In Redcar, Cleveland, Nicholas Hyde was fined GB pound 18,000 by Teesside magistrates after the Cleveland Fire Brigade found that residents of flats in one of the 19 properties he owned were in “imminent” danger of fire. During an inspection, brigade officers found:
- No working fire alarm system
- Exposed electrical wires
- Damaged and scorched sockets and switches
- A lack of heating, causing tenants to use cookers and portable heaters to keep warm
- A serious fire risk from quantities of rubbish inside and outside the building
Hyde, who had tried to blame his tenants for the poor conditions, was also ordered to pay GB pound 3,082 in costs.
More information from Gazette Live
In Morecambe, Lancashire, a family of eight was forced to flee their home in a house of multiple occupation owned by Graham Sawings after a chip pan caught fire on the middle floor of the building in July.
The district judge at the Blackpool Magistrates’ Court said that the people on the top floor of the building could have died. Sawings pleaded guilty to 10 breaches of fire regulations. Witnesses testified that:
- The fire extinguisher had not been checked for six years.
- A fault light was displaying on the fire alarm panel.
- A dearth of alarms, safety plans, risk assessments, firefighting equipment, and emergency lighting put residents in danger.
Sawings will be sentenced by the Preston Crown Court.
In the Blackpool Magistrates’ Court, Mohammed Attique admitted to nine breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 after the first of two fires in the kitchen of an Indian takeaway in Blackpool in November endangered two staff members living in a flat above the shop.
District Judge Edward Barr fined Attique GB pound 9,000, ordered him to pay GB pound 2,607 in costs, and said he was guilty of “gross negligence.” The property had:
- No fire alarm
- No completed risk assessment
- Out-of-date extinguishers
- Combustible material on the stairs and in the basement
- A smoke-logged escape route
- Inadequate fire doors
- Inadequate fire separation between the ground and first floors
The landlord was required to comply with an enforcement notice before the premises could be used as living accommodation, so the staff members moved out. A second fire occurred there in January.
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Plus, we explore the growing risks of lithium-ion battery fires and hear from experts in disability evacuation and social housing.
