Page 479 - Xmo Strata - Bulletin Archive

Fire exits are a critical escape path in the event of a fire and are designed to save lives, yet we regularly
accept people being put at risk because of situations such as those pictured above.

Fire risk assessments are mandatory on all sites and retail outlets, and fines have consistently increased
since the latest legislation was introduced five years ago. With this, media interest has also intensified.
Breaches not only result in ever increasing fines, but also a lot of bad publicity including, in some
cases, prime time news coverage on national TV.

There are many publicly available records detailing breaches of legislation but I have included a few
links to web articles that all relate to court fines and costs in excess of £100,000 imposed for direct
breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The real costs relating to defence costs,
legal bills, management time, investigations, down-time and reputational loss are, of course, much
higher:-

High street retailer fined £400,000 and ordered to pay £136,052 in costs:

http://www.shponline.co.uk/incourt-content/full/record-gbp-400-000-fine-for-retailer-s-fire-safety-
breaches

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8379503.stm

Supermarket ordered to pay £118,000 for breaching fire regulations:

http://www.times-
series.co.uk/news/topstories/8114654.Supermarket_giant_fined_for_fire_regulation_breach/

Retailer forced to pay £238,000 for fire safety failings:

http://www.w-fp.co.uk/blog/the-co-op-receives-near-record-fine-for-fire-safety-failings/

Businessman pays out £130,300 for fire safety breaches:

http://www.shponline.co.uk/incourt-content/full/businessman-pays-out-six-figure-sum-for-fire-safety-
breaches

Where our teams identify safety breaches, we endeavor to make the site staff aware, mitigate the risk at
source and then advise our customer. However, if our customers could reinforce this message to their
site operators and encourage their area managers to raise awareness, it may very well save a life, or a
potentially a very large fine.

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