High street retailer receives record fine following blaze

The high street retailer New Look has been fined £400,000 and ordered to pay £136,052 in costs after pleading guilty to serious breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the “RRO”).

It is the largest fine to date under the RRO.

London Fire Brigade prosecuted New Look following a serious fire at their Oxford Street store on 26 April 2007. Thirty fire engines and around 150 firefighters were needed to tackle the blaze and crews remained at the scene for the next three days. The first call to the Brigade was from an office worker in an adjacent building. This delay meant that when crews arrived the fire had already developed and had broken through the second floor windows. Despite the building’s fire alarm sounding, it was reset on at least one occasion.

Over 450 people evacuated from the store and surrounding premises. A significant amount of Oxford Street was closed to traffic and the public which resulted in businesses being closed for a further two days after the blaze.

Following the fire, the Brigade carried out several fire safety inspections at the premises and found a substantial number of breaches of fire legislation. The most serious of these was an inadequate fire risk assessment which was found to have a number failures, including no record of appropriate fire procedures such as the correct one to adopt when the fire alarm is activated.

The RRO requires the responsible person (in a workplace, the employer) to carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment and act on its findings.

Another significant breach was the insufficient training of staff which led to a delayed evacuation of the premises and staff being ill-prepared to respond to a fire or fire alarm signal. Staff did not use the appropriate fire exits to evacuate the public which meant that approximately 150 people were evacuated through the main entrance which was directly underneath the fire on the second floor

Other serious deficiencies included all of the basement fire exits being unavailable to members of staff and the public due to the failure of an interface between the swipe card system and the fire alarm. The swipe card system should have been connected to the fire alarm system and have deactivated the doors. The premises was also found to have significant storage in escape routes on all floors.

Councillor Brian Coleman, Chairman of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, said: “Good business management includes taking responsibility for fire safety, knowing the law and acting on it. This conviction shows that large companies are not exempt from prosecution and that London Fire Brigade will take action when businesses do not take their fire safety responsibilities seriously. Failure to comply with the law can, as this case has shown, result in a substantial fine.”

Sentencing of New Look took place at Southwark Crown Court on 25 November 2009 after they pleaded guilty to two breaches of the RRO.

A New Look spokesman said: "The incident in 2007 was an unfortunate and concerning time for us all, and as a responsible business we immediately initiated a comprehensive review of our health and safety procedures.

He said the firm had "fully taken on board the recommendations presented at the inquiry" and "will continue to strengthen its company guidelines and working practices to ensure full compliance".