Record fine for High Street Store

January 6, 2010

“New Look” a major High street store has received a record fine of £400,000 for major breaches in fire safety, plus the store had to pay £136,000 costs, after horrific fire at the store.

The London store based in Oxford Street, was inspected and various failings were found such as; not having enough fire exits, staff not having suitable or sufficient fire awareness training.

The Judge said “this fire could have been a major disaster almost too awful to contemplate.

The court heard how the shop was busy with shoppers with smoke bellowing out of a window on the second floor. With the fire alarm sounding it turned off and shoppers were allowed to continue shopping. When the fire alarm reactivated, the staff once again failed to react.

The staff only became aware of the fire when passers-by where shouting to the staff that the building was on fire.

The fine of £400,000 is the biggest given to a company in the UK for breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 came in to force in 2006.  This is the biggest record financial fine given to a company for breaches of fire safety.

Companies must start taking their fire safety responsibilities seriously, the above is a grieve warning when it is not. A fire risk assessment is a legal requirement, plus fire awareness training, fire alarm maintenance, etc.

For more information contact fire alarm company Fire Systems Ltd on www.firesystems.co.uk.

Fire alarms designed to reduce, false alarms

Fire Systems Ltd, is an independent fire alarm installer, with some advice on a mixed fire alarm system and its benefits.

There are different types of fire alarm systems that can be in installed (Wireless fire alarms, wired addressable fire alarms and basic conventional systems). The fire alarm systems, should be in accordance with there commendations of BS 5839-6 Fire detection and fire alarm systems for buildings, which is the Code of practice for the design, installation and maintenance of fire detection and fire alarm systems in dwellings. This details different grades of system and extent of coverage and recommends an appropriate system based on the risk the premises present.

Relatively simple systems will be satisfactory for smaller, low-risk premises, but larger houses and HMOs will require a more sophisticated automatic fire alarm system. In bedsit HMOs with cooking facilities within the bedsits and in blocks of self-contained flats then a mixed system is usually recommended, where the escape routes and common parts are protected by an interlinked system of alarms or fire detection of the main house fire alarm, and the individual units have a separate stand-alone system to alert a sleeping occupant of fire in their own unit of accommodation. This has the benefit of reducing nuisance/false alarms throughout
the whole property caused by activities such as cooking within any one unit.

Hotel owner fined for five breaches of Fire Safety Order

27 May 2010

A Hotel owner in Bolton has been prosecuted, has been fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 costs after pleading guilty to five breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

The fire authorities brought the prosecution of the owner of the Pack Horse hotel, Subhash Jajoo. This followed a complaint from the public about a blocked fire exit at the hotel in December 2008.

Greater Manchester Fire Authorities followed this up with an inspection  and this revealed a number of failings. These included defective fire doors, the fire alarm was defective, fire detection/manual call point was not working, obstructions to the escape routes, defective emergency lighting units and fire extinguishers not being maintained properly.

It is important to have a fully operational fire alarm system, with a fire alarm maintenance in place. The fire alarm weekly testing is also an important procedure to ensure the fire alarm will work first time in the event of a fire emergency.

Cllr Paul Shannon, vice chairman of Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Authority said: “We welcome the clear message from the courts that legal action will be taken against those owners or businesses that neglect fire safety and thereby risk the public’s safety.

The Fire Authority is focussed on helping businesses operate safely and stay within the legal framework, but we will take legal action if they do not.

Speaking after the case, Dr Jajoo told the Bolton News: “I am not happy with the prosecution costs and I don’t think this should have come to court. The points raised were rectified in a matter of days and I did my best.”

Protecting animals from fire using wireless fire alarms

There is always a dilemma  when protecting animals and live stock, kept in sheds outside, from fire. The sudden noise of a clattering bell or a high pitched sound of a smoke alarms installed in the sheds causes distress to the animals and can affect the animal’s health and well being. On the other hand you have to detect smoke or fires in the sheds as quickly and as practically possible if you are going to evacuate the animals in time to save their lives.

London based fire alarm company Fire Systems Ltd is a leading specialist when it comes to wireless fire alarm system we help animal lovers, farmers and veterinaries overcome this problem by offering an fire alarm system with sensors placed in the sheds that are connected to a wireless fire alarm system with a radio-interlink to the alarms fitted in the house, monitoring centre or working monitoring office. The wireless fire detection can be optical or heat and will alert you at your house should a fire break out in the barns or sheds.

For further advice, please do not hesitate to contact Fire Systems Ltd, on www.firesystems.co.uk

Fire Alarms save lives!

When I go through the social networking sites and enter “Fire Alarm”, what comes up is people moaning about the activation of the fire alarm and it would appear not taking much notice of it. People have no idea of the reality of a real fire situation and therefore have this blahzay attitude when hearing the fire alarm.

On hearing the alarm always treat it as if there could be a real fire and that fire alarm may just save your life.

For more information or if your require a fire alarm installer or a fire alarm company, please contact Fire Systems Ltd on www.firesystems.co.uk

What is a false alarm on a fire alarm system?

When speaking about fire alarms, what is deemed as a false alarm?

Many of people who are the responsible person managing a fire alarm system, make the mistake of calling a false alarm activation of the fire alarm and there was not for a genuine fire. However, this is incorrect.    The fire alarm may go off for a genuine reason such as someone burning the toast or the atmosphere required to activate the detector had been reached. If this is the case, then it is not a false alarm.

The above would apply whether is was a wireless fire alarm system or a wired fire alarm.

To help reduce false alarms it is strongly advised to take out a fire alarm maintenance contract with a good reliable fire alarm company such as Fire Systems Ltd.

Leicester Hotel fined over fire safety failings after a fire

 

Park Hotel in Leicester

A Leicester hotel and its manager have been ordered to pay more than £41,000 over a list of fire safety failings discovered after a fire.

The fire authorities yesterday told Leicester Magistrates' Court that although no one was seriously injured in the fire blaze at Park Hotel, London Road, it could so easily have been different result because of the lack of fire safety in place at the hotel.

The court heard how staff and guest had to find their own way out of the building during the fire, last August, because there was no fire action plan in place.

A couple resident and working for the hotel and living in the basement with their child, did not hear the fire alarm and took 20 minutes to get out of the building.

Yesterday, hotel director Parkash Kalra, who represented the Hotel in court, and the manager Ashwin Ratan each pleaded guilty to ten charges of failing to meet, or maintain fire safety regulations and measures.

The failings included leaving fire doors wedged open, failing to have fire alarm maintenance of the fire alarm panel. The fire alarms and fire detection were not tested on a weekly basis and checked in accordance with the Standards. There was not a suitable fire risk assessment in place and it had not been reviewed.

Hazel Padmore, for Leicestershire Fire and Rescue service, said: "No-one suffered any serious injuries from the fire, but we could have easily been dealing with a different and far more serious situation.

"There was a high risk of death or serious injury because of the fire safety deficiencies."

Fire crews took two hours to extinguish the blaze on August 13. It was caused by a candle and damaged several guest bedrooms.

Ms Padmore said although Ratan was classed as the person responsible for ensuring fire prevention and safety at the hotel, he had not been trained and accepted he was not competent to manage fire safety.

Fire Safety and Fire Alarm inspections in Dubia

It has been revealed that Fire safety inspections of every building and premises in Dubai are set to be completed by the end of the year, a top official has said.

Ali al Mutawa, DCD’s head of operations, told the National, a team of 300 fire safety inspectors are on track to complete their task of carrying our fire risk assessments in the entire emirates’ estimated 60,000 homes, offices, business’s and warehouses.

He told the paper the fire safety initiative to make sure all buildings are fitted with, smoke detectors, fire alarms, emergency lighting (where required), sprinkler systems and fire exits, would help Dubai achieve a “zero fire rate”.

Fire Systems Ltd, has attended Dubia on a fact finding mission to ascertain if there was  a market for their wireless fire alarm systems.

At present a representative from the Dubia based Flamex Fire Safety is in the UK and will be visiting Fire Systems Ltd to view their product range.

If you require advice or any of our services that include:

Fire Alarm installation, Fire Alarm maintenance, fire alarm weekly testing, wireless fire alarms,

Contact fire alarm company fire systems Ltd on www.firesystems.co.uk

When did your company last test their Fire Alarm?

Does your company test their fire alarm on a weekly basis? It is now a legal requirement to carry out this test.

If you believe this test is not carried out, you should ask your boss or a health and safety representative to find out when the fire alarm test is carried out just in case it is done before or after the working day.

The usual procedure to carry out such a test is to activate a different fire alarm manual call point once a week and make a note of it in the fire alarm safety log book.

Fire Systems Ltd a London based fire alarm installer and fire alarm maintenance company, provides a weekly testing and fire alarm maintenance service at very competitive prices.

For more information, contact Fire Systems via their website on www.firesystems.co.uk

Fire Alarms – Fire Systems Ltd

Whatever the size and complexity of the fire alarm system – whether a wired or wireless fire alarm system - for small, large, single or multiple sites, Fire Systems Ltd has the required expertise.

When a fire alarm installation is required the company or organisation is often faced with a bewildering array of decisions. For example, is compliance with British Standards necessary? If so, is it B.S.5839 Part 1 or Part 6? Is B.S.6266 or B.S. 7273 relevant? What Grade or category of system is called for? M,P or L? Type 1, 2 or 3? A - F? Is the fire system to alert the fire brigade and if so by what method? Fire Systems Ltd can assist with all of these questions and many others, as well as liaising with the local fire officer and insurers as necessary.

Fire Systems is an independent fire alarm installer based in London. We have been installing fire alarm systems since 1992. Fire detection systems have changed over the years but mainly due to the introduction of wireless fire alarms. However, addressable and conventional wired fire alarm systems have remained the same.

Why not contact Fire Systems Ltd for more information on www.firesystems.co.uk