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New Look are fined £400,000 for serious breaches in fire safety and are ordered to pay £136,000 court costs.
New Look were fined, following a serious fire in one of their stores, £250,000 for failing to provide a "suitable and sufficient" fire risk assessment and £150,000 for inadequate fire safety training.
Shell Oil were fined £300,000 last year and ordered to pay £45,000 court costs.
It was found that Shell Oils own fire risk assessment was not reviewed or updated for 3 1/2 years. Assistant Commissioner Steve Turek said; "Shell failed to respond properly to their risk assessment for three and a half years and had it not been for the fires which led to the inspection, it could have been considerably longer. Had Shell acted upon the findings of the 2003 risk assessment at the time, they would have avoided putting their staff at risk."
It is not just the big companies that are being looked at either! Here are a few of the other fines that have been given to companies of all sizes throughout the UK:
Tips to avoid this happening:
- Ensure that a fire risk assessment has been carried out by a competent person.
- Ensure that the fire risk assessment is reviewed regularly.
- Ensure that all fire safety measures within your workplace are secured and maintained.
- Ensure that ALL staff are adequately trained.
- Ensure that your fire safety managers have had sufficient training to manage the fire safety within your company.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRO) that came into force in October 2006 makes requirements on the "Responsible Person" to manage the Fire Safety within workplace. Past history tells us that many companies throughout the UK are not complying fully with this legislation.
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