Fire safety failures in over half of care homes audited in new Brigade report

Serious fire safety failures have been found in care homes across London by our Brigade inspectors.

There were 177 care homes visited to gauge the level of fire risk across the capital in a one-off series of in-depth inspections.

The Brigade’s findings included the following serious fire safety breaches:

One in three premises with inadequate or poorly maintained fire doors

Widespread confusion about fire evacuation strategies

Fire risk assessments being carried out by people without the proper skills and experience

Roofs being omitted from fire risk assessments (roof voids often increase the spread and severity of a fire)

Care home owners need to urgently review their fire risk assessments and ensure their staff knows how to safely evacuate their residents, especially those who are immobile.

“If you were placing your loved one into the care of others, you would expect them to be safe but for too many people, the very roof they are sleeping under could put them at risk.”

In 2017, two people died in a Cheshunt care home after a fire travelled through voids in the roof which allowed it to quickly engulf the entire building. Crews from Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue and London Fire Brigade found residents in many rooms, many too frail too move themselves to safety. Miraculously, 33 residents were rescued. Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) stated that “It’s the responsibility of those in charge of running care homes to ensure the right fire protection measures are in place in order to keep people safe.

Sentencing Guideline inflated fines for large organisations 15-fold.

The median fine for health and safety offences for large organisations increased almost 15-fold following the February 2016 arrival of the revised Sentencing Guideline for Health and Safety Offences, according to an impact assessment carried out by the Sentencing Council.

Its analysis of court fines levied in the 16 months prior to the Guideline, compared to the 16 month period after it took effect, saw the median fine increase from just £25,000 to £370,800.

For medium-sized organisations, there was a five-fold increase, with the median fine increasing from £20,000 to £100,000. 

Average fines for micro and small organisations also increased, although the stated aim of the revised Guideline was to increase the financial penalties for larger organisations.

In this group, the median fine rose from £20,100 to £45,200.

The analysis looked at 161 pre-Guideline cases and 129 post-Guideline cases.

The increase in fines for smaller organisations was one unexpected finding of the impact assessment, according to the Sentencing Council, which was also surprised to find that fines for individuals, sentenced under Section 7 of the Health and Safety at Work Act, had also increased by an “unanticipated” amount.