Ensuring the safety of your premises from fire hazards is not only a legal requirement but is also crucial to protecting lives and property.
No employer wants to be responsible for the death or serious injury of employees, customers and visitors. Under the Corporate Manslaughter legislation, these can often lead to high penalties for businesses.
Historically, fire officers were responsible for the assessment of licensed premises. The duty now falls on a “responsible person” within your business to conduct a fire risk assessment.
Poppleston Allen’s team of health and safety specialists led by partner Graeme Cushion, is equipped to help businesses meet all regulatory standards, mitigate risks, and maintain a safe environment for employees, customers, and visitors.
Areas of focus
The team offers a range of fire safety services tailored to meet the unique needs of your business:
Managing enforcement notices
An enforcement notice is a formal document issued by fire safety authorities when a business violates fire safety regulations.
Failure to comply with this notice can lead to further enforcement action, including fines, court proceedings, and in the worst case scenario, closure of the premises.
This challenging experience will require expert guidance for several reasons including:
- Understanding the alleged breach, legal implications and the steps required to rectify the issue
- Effectively managing a response ensures that you take all required actions within the specified time frame
- Minimising disruption to business operations while ensuring compliance
- Avoiding escalation to prevent the situation from developing into more serious legal action, such as prosecution or business closure
Managing an enforcement notice can be complex and time consuming, but you do not have to face it alone. Our team is here to help you navigate the process, protect your business from further penalties and ensure you achieve compliance with all fire safety regulations.
Interviews under caution
Navigating the complexities of fire safety compliance can be challenging for any business. If your business has been involved in a potential fire safety breach, an investigating officer may wish to conduct an interview under caution.
These interviews are a critical part of the investigation process and can have significant legal implications for your business.
For regulatory authorities, this formal process gathers evidence when there is suspicion of a breach of fire safety regulations. For operators, this can often be a daunting experience where authorities will gather your side of the story to determine if further legal action, such as prosecution, is warranted.
Experienced legal representation is essential to protect your rights and ensure you are fully prepared for the interview.
This is where our team of experienced fire safety solicitors will help you understand your rights, prepare your response, minimise risks and provide expert representation.
After the interview, we will also discuss the next steps and potential outcomes, including how to respond to any further inquiries or actions from the regulatory authority.
Defending prosecutions
Facing prosecution for a fire safety breach is a serious matter that demands expert legal representation.
Breaches may include inadequate fire risk assessments, failure to maintain safety equipment, or insufficient fire safety training for employees.
Our fire safety solicitors are here to simplify complex regulations, build a strong defence, minimise penalties and protect your reputation.
With a relationship with numerous authorities across England and Wales, our solicitors are able to appropriately negotiate with authorities to resolve the issue without proceeding to court, potentially reducing fines or avoiding prosecution altogether.
Advice for restaurants
1. Fire risk assessment
According to the London Fire Brigade (LFB), the most common causes of restaurant fires and takeaways are kitchen appliances, cookers and electrical distribution.
Therefore, it is essential to conduct a fire risk assessment on your premises. This assessment identifies fire hazards and examines the measures in place to minimise or eliminate the associated risks.
It is important to note that in the event of something going wrong, the investigating authority will scrutinise the operator’s policies, risk assessments and training.
2. Fire safety training
You must ensure that all staff are aware of and trained on potential hazards identified in any risk assessments related to their specific roles.
You must document these training sessions well and provide refresher training regularly. Ideally, store this carefully to ensure it looks professional if you need to produce it in the event of a problem.
How our fire safety solicitors can help
If you need help or advice, get in touch with one of our licensing solicitors. They have been helping operators across England and Wales for 30 years.
About the author: Graeme Cushion
Graeme Cushion joined Poppleston Allen in 2001 as a solicitor and was made a partner and head of regulatory crime in April 2005.
With over 25 years of experience in licensing law, Graeme represents clients ranging from individuals to major operators.
His experience as a magistrates’ court advocate led to a move to practising licensing law. With his criminal law background, Graeme leads the firm’s regulatory crime section, focusing on licensing related crimes.
This involves crimes related to serving alcohol (underage sales and drunkenness), health and safety, food safety, fire safety and noise nuisance.
“Graeme is very hands on and engaging. If you have a problem, he is always there.” – Chambers and Partners
