Hi, the latest edition of the IFEDA newsletter 'Firetalk' can be found via this link http://www.ifeda.org/newsletter.htm
Happy reading
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
IFEDA on Twitter
good morning, if you were following IFEDA on twitter you will need to sign up again as I had to redo the page - thanks
Friday, 24 September 2010
RRO breaches : Latest case. £33,000 worth of fines.
Hotel 'put profit before safety'
Source Juliet Eysenck on Sep 24, Westminster Chronicle
A Paddington hotel accused of putting profit before safety has been fined for breaching fire regulations.
Two members of the public raised concerns after staying overnight at the Ventures Hotel in Sussex Gardens.
Fire officers then inspected the property and found a number of fire safety failings including blocked emergency exits, wedged open fire doors and no suitable or sufficient fire risk assessment.
They issued an enforcement notice detailing the issues and set a time frame for them to be remedied by.
Malik Mohammed Bashir, manager of Ventures Hotel in Sussex Gardens, and Awan Investments Ltd, which owns the hotel, denied 10 fire safety offences but were found guilty at Westminster Magistrates' Court on September 14.
District judge Michael Snow said the defendants were not concerned with the safety of staff and guests, and that the fire safety lapses showed the organisation prioritised profit over safety.
Speaking after the hearing, Mr Bashir said: "This was an isolated incident and it happened so long ago.
"All the issues are resolved now.
"We had some redecoration work going on at the time, and if people are delivering materials, it's very difficult to stop them parking in front of the hotel and blocking emergency exits.
"One part of the hotel was closed at the time."
Awan Investments Ltd was ordered to pay £27,015 in fines and costs, while Mr Bashir was fined a further £5,015 for his role in the safety breaches on March 2, 2009.
Steve Turek, London Fire Brigade's assistant commissioner for fire safety regulation, said: "The general public should feel safe from fire when they are staying at a hotel and the responsible person must make sure their premises comply with the regulations.
"All premises owners and operators must undertake a fire safety risk assessment."
Source Juliet Eysenck on Sep 24, Westminster Chronicle
A Paddington hotel accused of putting profit before safety has been fined for breaching fire regulations.
Two members of the public raised concerns after staying overnight at the Ventures Hotel in Sussex Gardens.
Fire officers then inspected the property and found a number of fire safety failings including blocked emergency exits, wedged open fire doors and no suitable or sufficient fire risk assessment.
They issued an enforcement notice detailing the issues and set a time frame for them to be remedied by.
Malik Mohammed Bashir, manager of Ventures Hotel in Sussex Gardens, and Awan Investments Ltd, which owns the hotel, denied 10 fire safety offences but were found guilty at Westminster Magistrates' Court on September 14.
District judge Michael Snow said the defendants were not concerned with the safety of staff and guests, and that the fire safety lapses showed the organisation prioritised profit over safety.
Speaking after the hearing, Mr Bashir said: "This was an isolated incident and it happened so long ago.
"All the issues are resolved now.
"We had some redecoration work going on at the time, and if people are delivering materials, it's very difficult to stop them parking in front of the hotel and blocking emergency exits.
"One part of the hotel was closed at the time."
Awan Investments Ltd was ordered to pay £27,015 in fines and costs, while Mr Bashir was fined a further £5,015 for his role in the safety breaches on March 2, 2009.
Steve Turek, London Fire Brigade's assistant commissioner for fire safety regulation, said: "The general public should feel safe from fire when they are staying at a hotel and the responsible person must make sure their premises comply with the regulations.
"All premises owners and operators must undertake a fire safety risk assessment."
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Chubb Fire Wins Appeal
If Chubb had lost the appeal detailed below the implications for every supplier of fire extinguishers could have been serious: a good day for all.
Court of Appeal: Chubb Fire wins appeal Re £240,000 extinguisher damage
In a landmark case, the Court of Appeal has held that a fire safety company was not responsible for the damage caused by vandals setting off a dry powder extinguisher, causing £240,000 worth of damage to a historic Lincolnshire church.
On Friday 1 September 2006, three teenage boys entered the unlocked and unoccupied medieval church of St Mary and St Nicholas in Spalding. The boys found a dry powder extinguisher in a small kitchen took it into the main part of the church and discharged it along the length of the nave, covering the fabric/furniture of the church and many expensive fittings.
In the original hearing at Nottingham County Court in January 2009, the judge found that Chubb Fire was liable for the damage, as it negligently failed to warn the church about the mess that a discharge would cause.
In a judgement delivered on 20 August, the Court of Appeal reversed the judge’s decision, saying that it even if a warning had been given by Chubb, there was no evidence that the church would have made a definite decision not to install the dry powder extinguisher. The court also held that it was not fair to hold Chubb liable for the deliberate and criminal actions of people over whom it had no responsibility, even if malicious discharge of an extinguisher was in some way foreseeable.
The church's insurers, Ecclesiastical Insurance, had brought the original claim in the name of the church.
Have a good day.
Court of Appeal: Chubb Fire wins appeal Re £240,000 extinguisher damage
In a landmark case, the Court of Appeal has held that a fire safety company was not responsible for the damage caused by vandals setting off a dry powder extinguisher, causing £240,000 worth of damage to a historic Lincolnshire church.
On Friday 1 September 2006, three teenage boys entered the unlocked and unoccupied medieval church of St Mary and St Nicholas in Spalding. The boys found a dry powder extinguisher in a small kitchen took it into the main part of the church and discharged it along the length of the nave, covering the fabric/furniture of the church and many expensive fittings.
In the original hearing at Nottingham County Court in January 2009, the judge found that Chubb Fire was liable for the damage, as it negligently failed to warn the church about the mess that a discharge would cause.
In a judgement delivered on 20 August, the Court of Appeal reversed the judge’s decision, saying that it even if a warning had been given by Chubb, there was no evidence that the church would have made a definite decision not to install the dry powder extinguisher. The court also held that it was not fair to hold Chubb liable for the deliberate and criminal actions of people over whom it had no responsibility, even if malicious discharge of an extinguisher was in some way foreseeable.
The church's insurers, Ecclesiastical Insurance, had brought the original claim in the name of the church.
Have a good day.
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Another timely warning: Beware Asbestos
The following article relates directly to technicians of fire protection companies who work in schools and have to disturb the fabric of the building to lay cables, fit extinguisher brackets etc.
Remember: you should be asking to see the Asbestos Register when you first sign in to a premises (IFEDA fire extinguisher training manual).
Repeal of schools-building programme raises asbestos alarm
The cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) Programme could increase the risk of children, teachers and support staff being exposed to asbestos, TUC union officials have warned.
Many existing school buildings are likely to contain asbestos, as they were built before 1970, when the material was in common use. As these buildings fall into disrepair, the risk of asbestos exposure increases significantly.
The number of teachers who have died from the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma has increased by more than 300 per cent in the last 20 years, according to the TUC campaigners. More worryingly, they point out that children exposed to asbestos are five times more likely to develop mesothelioma than adult teachers in the same environment.
The TUC Asbestos Support and Campaign Group is further alarmed by the fact that many schools have spent little on maintenance, on the promise that they would be part of the previous Labour government’s BSF programme, which aimed to rebuild or renew nearly every secondary school in England. The Group claims that new Education secretary Michael Gove’s decision to halt the BSF scheme has scuppered the plans of nearly 100 schools in the north of England (six in Cumbria and 93 in the North East) to move forward with a new-build programme.
20 tradesmen/women die every week from the effects of asbestos - don't let it be you.
Remember: you should be asking to see the Asbestos Register when you first sign in to a premises (IFEDA fire extinguisher training manual).
Repeal of schools-building programme raises asbestos alarm
The cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) Programme could increase the risk of children, teachers and support staff being exposed to asbestos, TUC union officials have warned.
Many existing school buildings are likely to contain asbestos, as they were built before 1970, when the material was in common use. As these buildings fall into disrepair, the risk of asbestos exposure increases significantly.
The number of teachers who have died from the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma has increased by more than 300 per cent in the last 20 years, according to the TUC campaigners. More worryingly, they point out that children exposed to asbestos are five times more likely to develop mesothelioma than adult teachers in the same environment.
The TUC Asbestos Support and Campaign Group is further alarmed by the fact that many schools have spent little on maintenance, on the promise that they would be part of the previous Labour government’s BSF programme, which aimed to rebuild or renew nearly every secondary school in England. The Group claims that new Education secretary Michael Gove’s decision to halt the BSF scheme has scuppered the plans of nearly 100 schools in the north of England (six in Cumbria and 93 in the North East) to move forward with a new-build programme.
20 tradesmen/women die every week from the effects of asbestos - don't let it be you.
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Why Join IFEDA
So why would you join a trade association like IFEDA? Well there are plenty of reasons which are listed in various places but one over-riding reason more than anything would be SUPPORT:- on Monday lunchtime IFEDA was informed of a potential problem and safety alert regarding a certain type/batch of fire extinguisher valve heads: this alert was with members within the hour. So not having to scrabble around in various forums or rely on hearsay to find out what's going on: if we know it, the members know it.
Convinced? See www.ifeda.org/join.htm
Convinced? See www.ifeda.org/join.htm
IFEDA Newsletter
The summer edition of Firetalk, the quarterly newsletter from IFEDA, is available to view at www.ifeda.org/newsletter.htm
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