The former management company of The White Swan hotel near Arundel has been fined GB pound 25,000 plus costs after pleading guilty to breaches of fire safety laws. Mill House Inns Trading Ltd, owners of the hotel at the time, pleaded guilty to five offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order.
The prosecution followed a fire at the hotel on 6 March 2007, when ten guests were trapped in their bedrooms and had to be rescued from first floor windows by firefighters using ladders.
The subsequent investigation by West Sussex Fire & Rescue revealed a range of poor fire safety management at the hotel. The fire alarm panel had previously been switched to ‘silent’, so alarms did not sound when the fire broke out. As a result, guests received no early warning that the fire, which broke out at around midnight, was burning in the corridor immediately outside their rooms.
The prosecution said that staff did not receive adequate fire safety training, fire alarms weren’t being tested correctly, fire doors were wedged open and there was no suitable emergency plan in case a fire did break out. The five offences to which the company pleaded guilty were:
– failing to take general fire precautions to ensure the safety of employees and the premises [contrary to Article 8 (1), 32 (1)a and 32(3) of the Fire Safety Order]
– failing to review a risk assessment and, where a change was required as a result, making that change [Art 9(3), 32(1)(a) and 32(3)]
– failing to make arrangements appropriate to the size and nature of the business [Art 11, 32(1)(a) and 32(3)]
– failing to nominate competent persons and ensure relevant training and adequate equipment for them [Art 13(3)(b), 32(1)(a) and 32(3)]
– failing to provide employees with adequate safety training at the time they were first employed, or on being exposed to new risks [Art 21(1), 32(1)(a) and 32(3)].
The company was fined GB pound 5000 on each count, the maximum sum allowed in a magistrates court, and also had to pay costs of GB pound 11,071.
Magistrates praised the actions of the fire service on the night of the fire, but said company procedures for managing fire safety at the hotel showed a total disregard for the safety of guests. They added it was fortunate that none of the 19 guests or four staff had been killed or seriously injured.
West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service said after the case that the judgement should send a clear warning to other businesses that putting people’s lives at risk, through inadequate fire safety procedures, would not be tolerated. “Hotels have a responsibility to make sure their guests are safe”, said director of community protection, Trevor Pilcher. “This hotel had the right physical precautions in place like smoke detectors, self-closing fire doors, emergency lighting and fire extinguishers but all that becomes ineffective if the management of the fire precautions isn’t good enough.
“Consequently when the fire started, the guests were trapped in their rooms by the smoke and several of them dialled 999 on their mobile phones. They were given fire survival guidance by our command & mobilising centre and when the fire crews arrived they found people leaning out of windows, but it shouldn’t have got to that situation if the fire safety procedures were managed properly.”
After the case, Mill House Trading made the following statement:
“The safety of our customers is our main priority and we take this issue extremely seriously. We have robust procedures in place to ensure that all staff are fully trained on fire drills and evacuation procedures and these processes are monitored very closely. On this occasion, the management of the White Swan failed to implement the system properly. We have since conducted a full review of our internal processes to ensure that we provide the highest standards of fire safety possible.
“Not withstanding the operational issues giving rise to these charges, we would like to stress that nobody was injured and all guests were relocated quickly to alternative accommodation.”
Since the fire, the hotel has been completely refurbished and is under new management.
