Care Home Resident dies in a Fire as a result of the Property Company failing to carry out an adequate Fire Safety Risk Assessment for the Building and failure to properly train it’s Staff in Fire Safety!

The Company has been ordered to pay a fine of £360,000 plus £100,000 costs. The Judge said the ‘near total destruction of the roofing had been due to the fact that there were no external vents from the resident’s kitchens, which instead were vented into the roof space, and over the years this had built up deposits from grease and oil from cooking’.

The Fire and Rescue Service said, ‘The Fire which began in a television set spread rapidly across the retirement home’s entire roof and became a devastating blaze, which forced firefighters to return several times to a burning building to rescue vulnerable residents.’

This fine should now send a clear message to businesses to take seriously their responsibilities to keep people safe from Fire.

If you own or are the identified ‘Responsible Person’ for a Care Home make sure you have a fully compliant Fire Safety Risk Assessment and that it is kept up to date.

London Fire Risk Assessments can help you – we have qualified Fire Safety Risk Assessors that will carry out a thorough Fire Safety Inspection/Audit. They can also provide onsite Fire Marshal Training, which can be tailored to reflect your premise needs and keep your Staff fully up to date with Fire Safety and most importantly the Emergency Plan for the premise. Call now to discuss or arrange an appointment 01689 890879

The importance of Fire, Health & Safety Risk Assessments in Residential Care Homes

We were contacted by a concerned Client re the Staffing Levels in a Residential Care Home in South West London. The elderly relative had just joined the Home and reported to him that there was only one member of Staff at night to look after 30 people.

The Client spoke with one of our Risk Assessors for sometime to get advice as to where he could obtain guideline numbers of required ratio Staff to Service Users.

It was recommended that he should start with DCLG Guidance Residential Care Homes Pages 68, 70-71, 72, 75, 129 and then go to Care Quality Commission Regulation 18.

Whilst this information is invaluable both point to Risk Assessing. Every Residential Care Home is different and the required level of Staffing will reflect the Service Users needs.

We suggested that probably the best way forward would be to witness the Premise Fire, Health & Safety Risk Assessments because within the documents it would outline the Evacuation procedure and there it will identify required Staffing levels.

A lot for the Client to think about and investigate but hopefully he will be able to put the Relative and the Family’s minds at rest.

This advice was given on a complimentary basis not only as a better business practice but because of a true concern in regards to peoples Fire, Health and Safety.

We carry out many Risk Assessments for Residential Care Homes in London and the surrounding area. If you are not sure that the Risk Assessment you have for your Home contains an effective and workable Evacuation Plan contact us on 01689 890879 or click here for more information.

We are highly regarded for our Emergency Plans including Phased Horizontal Evacuation technics.