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Alan Cox - First for Fire & Safety
Online advisor - 53 posts
Some people may be surprised by this case but unfortunately it comes as no surprise to me as I see this type of problem at many of the hotels that I stay in. It is not just the smaller hotels that don't respect their fire safety obligations as I also see these failings in many well known large hotel groups. Even when I raise the problems with the management, some do not even reply and so I have very little alternative but to inform the Fire Authority.
The recent BBC undercover investigation that I carried out revealed that about 90% of hotels that I visited had similar defects to those in this case.
The sad part about this case is that the failings were only identified after a serious fire and people were trapped and I feel that this will occur more often now that the new Fire Safety Order is with us and I personally think that the Penhallow, Athersone on Stour and Royal Marsden Fires should make us think very carefully about this new direction that in which we are heading.
I also don't believe that the levels of fines are high enough to deter owners from flouting the rules and here is a typical example:
Hotel ignored "endless" fire warnings
24.04.2008
A hotel that had faulty smoke alarms, blocked escape routes and an emergency exit sign pointing the wrong way has been fined after pleading guilty to 18 fire safety breaches.
On 22 April, Tynedale magistrates fined The Station Inn hotel in Hexham £3500 plus £2500 costs.
This case also highlights the different way that problems are dealt with around the UK as in a similar situation in one hotel that I identified during the BBC investigation the Fire Authority chose to take no enforcement action.
Perhaps we should now be moving towards an official Safety Rating System that would allow people to be aware of the standard of safety that an establishment has achieved before making a booking and not finding out later to their cost.
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