£50,000 fine for ‘Death Trap’ store
Poundstretcher Ltd has pleaded guilty to serious fire safety breaches at its Huddersfield store.
A fire safety inspector found that the store was putting its staff and customers at serious risk of injury or death due to a catalogue of safety failings at the store.
Inspectors discovered that only one fire exit was in use, but was not working properly and could actually have trapped them inside the building rather than helping them escape. Other exits that were not in use were blocked by large amounts of combustible material.
Before the failings were discovered, a risk assessment had been carried out and recommendations had been made but were not actioned at the store.
The Company has been fined £50,000 for the breaches. In the past 18 months it has also had to pay out over £20,000 for failings at other stores in Wakefield and Halifax.
The Company accepted responsibility and immediately set about rectifying all of the issues. Poundstretcher company secretary, Martin Collinson said, “We note the comments of the judge and we have to take what he said very seriously”.
Fewer incidents in Greater Manchester over Bonfire Night
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service have acknowledged the public for heeding their warnings regarding fire safety this Bonfire Night as the number of incidents reported over the weekend had fallen when compared to last year.
It was confirmed that there had been 254 incidents relating to fireworks or bonfires across the region over the Bonfire Night weekend, with fire-related injuries standing at 18 and four attacks on fire fighters dealing with incidents.
The period in question was between 5pm on Friday until 6.30am on Sunday and the numbers were said to have been lower than the same times last November.
A Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said:
“Although it has been very busy for all the emergency services, we have had a quieter Bonfire Night than last year. We are pleased to see a reduced number of casualties across Greater Manchester. People heeded our warning messages.”
Despite the good news overall there were still a few serious incidents reported to emergency services in Greater Manchester including two people receiving flash burns from a bonfire, a person hit in the face by a firework and someone going back to a lit firework and suffering facial burns.
Birmingham high-rise fire safety failings
A report by the BBC has highlighted serious fire safety breaches in most of Birmingham’s tower blocks.
Even recently refurbished Bakeman House has failed to comply with the fire safety standards especially in common areas of the building. Many other high rise flats where deemed out-dated and run down.
The City Council confirm that it has planned fire safety work in many of its tower blocks to be completed by the end of the financial year.
One housing organisation, Whitefriars Housing disputed the findings saying “Our customers’ safety is our chief concern. We have conducted in-depth fire risk assessments three times in the past year,”.
The full report was aired on the BBC Inside Out programme on 25th October.
Firefighters in Northern Ireland respond to 277 Halloween calls
It has been confirmed today that the fire service in Northern Ireland responded to 277 emergency calls on the 31st of October this year, which is slightly up on last Halloween.
However, despite the rise in figures, there were actually fewer call-outs for the fire service to deal with than the average for Halloween in recent years.
Most of the calls across Northern Ireland involved bonfires, rubbish and gorse fires, with a call every 90 seconds at the peak period.
A fire service spokesman said that firefighters were able to carry out their duties effectively this year with hardly any disturbances to report.
Fire service area commander Dale Ashford explained how there had been a concerted effort towards planning for this time of year when fire safety is of paramount importance.
He said:
“We put an awful amount of effort into getting that safety message out there.
“Our crews and our districts and areas spend a lot of time engaging with the community and explaining the safety message and asking them to try and have fun in a safe way.
“Hopefully, it is the case that the message is getting across.”
While fire safety is important all year round, when fireworks and bonfires are involved the fire risk increases. This is why it is necessary to ensure you homes and businesses are protected from fire.
Staff safely evacuated from Lichfield factory blaze
It has been reported that around 50 workers at an industrial press factory in Staffordshire had to escape from the premises after an accidental fire was started last Wednesday morning.
An industrial press caught fire at the IMI Norgen factory in Eastern Avenue, Lichfield, around 1:40am and so six fire crews were called to the scene.
The blaze was eventually put out by the firefighters shortly before 4am as the fire had been prevented from spreading by the sprinkler system put in operation at the factory. This meant that the blaze could easily be controlled.
Staffordshire Fire and Rescue admitted that if it hadn’t been for the fire safety sprinkler system then then accidental fire would have taken much longer to be extinguished.
The station manager for the fire service, Mick Jahn said:
“We’d urge all businesses to fit sprinkler systems; there are misconceptions that should there be a fire several sprinklers will operate, this isn’t the case.
“They will only operate where the fire is located. As this incident has highlighted, they do prevent the spread of fires, and so minimise the economic cost of a fire – which is even more important during these difficult financial times.”