In what is thought to be the first case of its kind, a maintenance
engineer has been prosecuted by Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service
under the
Fire Safety Order for his failures at a care home to:
- maintain a fire alarm system to a recognised standard; and
- inform the owners of the home of the deficiencies in the system.
Christopher Morris, of Llandudno, a former retained fire fighter,
undertook the maintenance of fire alarm systems. In terms of
accreditations, Morris is not listed as being either BAFE approved or a
member of the FIA.
In spite of this, he had been responsible for the maintenance of the
fire alarm system at the care home since 2006 and had issued several
“annual certificates of worthiness”.
In May 2009 the care home experienced a fire and Greater Manchester
Fire & Rescue Service subsequently attended. Regrettably, an elderly
resident died following the fire.
As part of the ensuing investigation, a number of issues with the
maintenance of the fire alarm system were discovered that made it clear
that the system had not been maintained in accordance with the British
Standard as Morris claimed. Several serious deficiencies where
discovered that included:
- a blown fuse over-ridden with a piece of wire;
- an electronic component had been suspended between two terminal
bocks instead of being attached to the circuit board;
- an alarm silence/fault warning buzzer was missing from the
circuit board; and
- the fault warning light on the front face of the panel had been
almost covered by paint.
As a result of these failures, Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue
Service prosecuted Morris, who subsequently pleaded guilty to two
offences, under the
Fire Safety Order.
The Court described ‘culpable neglect’ by Morris, but found that the
alarm system’s deficiencies had played no part in the woman’s death.
Morris was subsequently sentenced and issued with a hefty fine and order
to pay costs.
Whilst this case specifically relates to fire alarm maintenance,
similar points clearly apply in respect of
fire safety risk
assessments, staff
training and the provision and maintenance of
fire
extinguishers,
Emergency Lighting, and Safety
Signage.
It is of course ultimately the duty of the
Responsible Person,
typically the employer, to fulfil the obligations under the order and it
is ultimately the Responsible
Person who may be answerable and punishable for any breaches,
notwithstanding that others may also be at fault.
The case therefore further illustrates the importance of the
Responsible Person taking
steps to ensure the competence of all of their fire safety suppliers. In
this respect, third party accreditation clearly plays a very significant
part indeed.
The outcome for the
Responsible Person(s) in this case has not yet been made public. it
is noted that rules of Sub Judice restrict reporting on active cases
currently under trial.
For further information, please refer to
Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service’s Press Release (no longer
available online).
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