A company and its former director have been ordered to pay more than £100,000 due to an insufficient fire risk assessment at a block of flats in Portsmouth.
The Enforcement Support Team at Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service (HIWFRS) first became aware of the inadequate fire safety checks at Forbes Court, in Hilsea, Portsmouth, in 2017.
Fire risk assessment
After being alerted to the issue, the property management company responsible for the three-storey block of flats reportedly investigated the matter and carried out additional work.
The building was eventually deemed safe after a comprehensive assessment was carried out
The building was eventually deemed safe after a comprehensive assessment was carried out by a new fire risk assessor. It was found that the initial fire risk assessment had failed to look, in detail, at every aspect of the building, including the potential for escape routes to be blocked.
By not flagging these vital fire hazards, residents’ lives could have been at risk if a fire had broken out.
Vital fire hazards
In July 2022, a jury at Portsmouth Crown Court found risk assessor Adrian Watson of Watson, Wild, and Baker Ltd guilty of ‘failing to make a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment.’ Allegedly, Watson and his team refused to accept that residents risked ‘serious injury and death’ by not looking at every risk.
On 4 November 2022, Judge Timothy Mousley stated that the risk assessment ‘fell far short of the appropriate standards’ and fined the company and its former director costs amounting to £100,000 in total.
The company, Watson, Wild, and Baker Ltd, were fined £60,000 and ordered to pay additional costs of £25,000. Watson was also fined £5,040 and told to pay costs of £10,000.
Heart of fire safety
We will never shy away from taking action if fire safety risks are ignored"
Prosecuting on behalf of HIWFRS, barrister Sailesh Mehta said: “It was the duty of these defendants to ensure that they got it right. Others depended on them doing their duty and the jury found that they fell so far below the duty that the risk was death or serious injury.”
Area Manager for HIWFRS, Jason Avery, added: “We will never shy away from taking action if fire safety risks are ignored. By failing to consider every aspect of this building’s safety, the defendants had no idea if Forbes Court was a safe place for those who lived there, or not. Fire risk assessments are at the very heart of fire safety for any building and must be carried out properly to protect residents.”
Building safety managers
HIWFRS have since been urging building safety managers to ensure that comprehensive fire risk assessments are in place at their buildings. Avery explains: “Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order, all those responsible for buildings must make sure a thorough fire risk assessment has been carried out.”
“If you are responsible for a building, whether it’s residential or commercial, make sure you are satisfied that the fire risk assessor you are employing is a competent person and carries out a thorough job. I want to pay tribute to our Enforcement Support Team for their dedicated work in bringing this to court. Our guiding principle will always be to work with people to address fire safety issues, but in this case, those offers were ignored.”