A Paignton care home owner has been fined £19,500 and was ordered to pay £5,497 costs for 'very, very serious offences'.
The owner of St Andrew's Lodge, John Davis, pleaded guilty to four charges of breaching the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 on 28 July. Magistrates at Torquay Magistrates' Court heard that the failures had occurred over a long period of time and that the potential for loss of life at the premises was a very real risk.
Indeed, the premises were in such a bad state of repair that a locksmith working on an exit door opening onto the external fire escape staircase put his foot through the stairwell and almost fell three storeys through the collapsing landing.
After receiving a complaint from the locksmith Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service officers inspected the premises on 22 July 2014, and served a Prohibition Notice on the premises restricting certain areas from use. They serious fire safety failures they found included:
- external fire escape in a state of near collapse due to a lack of maintenance
- fire doors damaged or with missing self-closing devices
- evidence of uncontrolled smoking in the premises
- damaged electrical items
- holes in the fire compartmentation
- electrical fuse boards in the means of escape unprotected by fire resistant material
- no suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment for the premises and occupants.
- In mitigation, Davis said that the failures had been corrected.
The charges brought were failure to provide adequate general fire precautions at St Andrew's Lodge, and a suitable and sufficient fire assessment for the premises; in addition to failure to ensure that relevant people were able to safely evacuate the premises in the event of a fire occurring, and to ensure that the premises, its equipment, devices and facilities were properly maintained.