Has your business got a suitable and sufficient Fire Risk Assessment that is fit for purpose and meets your statutory responsibilities or is your business at risk?
The owner of an Indian restaurant in Bristol will spend six months behind bars after pleading guilty to eight offences under the fire safety order.
These included:
A failure to have a suitable fire risk assessment.
A failure to ensure the premises was equipped with appropriate fire detectors and alarms.
A failure to ensure that emergency routes and exits were fitted with adequate fire doors so that people could escape safely in the event of fire.
The storage of items in the single means of escape route staircase on both the ground and first floor.
A failure to comply with a notice prohibiting the use of the premises for sleeping accommodation.
Although an extreme case Fire Services will continue to take responsible persons to court for serious breaches of fire safety.
As a minimum I recommend that you send your insurance company a copy of your fire risk assessment and ask them to comment on its suitability, it may be too late if you’re unfortunate and experience a fire.
