The owners of a Newcastle nightclub have been fined GB pound 4,000 following an incident which resulted in a man being seriously injured after his shirt caught fire from a ‘tea light’ candle.
Ultimate Leisure Limited, owners of the Sea nightclub in the city, pleaded guilty to two counts under the Regulatory (Fire Safety) Order 2005 – breaking their general duty of care to take general fire precautions, and having an unsuitable and insufficient fire risk assessment for the premises. Specificially, the risk assessment made no mention of the use of tea light candles and staff had not been given any training on how to deal with an incident involving naked flames. The company was also ordered to pay GB pound 975 in costs.
Andrew Reilly, 29, was standing on a balcony overlooking the dance floor with his back against a shelf, on which was a tea light candle. His shirt caught fire resulting in severe burns to his back and scarring for life.
Mike Gerrard, station manager at Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, said that as a result of the case, the fire service was planning to mount a high-profile inspection of all 350 licensed premises in Newcastle this autumn. “People don’t have an awareness of how dangerous it is to have naked flames in licensed premises,” he told FSEonline. “Unless they are out of reach, it is always going to be a high risk which is difficult to risk-assess away.”
Mr Gerrard also suggested that owners and managers were still ignorant or apathetic about their responsibilities under fire safety legislation. He revealed that following a letter he sent out to all 350 licensed premises in the city outlining their fire safety responsibilities, he received just six replies.
