Brighton police station failing on fire safety training
To the embarrassment of Sussex Police, one of its biggest police stations has failed fire safety tests due to poor fire safety awareness training standards amongst staff.
Sussex House in Brighton, which is the home of Sussex Police’s major crime unit and custody suite, was audited recently by fire safety consultants, who found a number of problems at the premises. The most obvious issue was that a number of staff members at the Crowhurst Road building had not received proper fire safety training, so they did not know how to evacuate the building safely or how to use fire extinguishers.
In response to the audit results, a spokesman for Sussex Police explained that changes and improvements have been or will soon be made to fire safety policy at Sussex House. He said:
“Following a fire safety audit of Sussex House carried out by consultants several recommendations were made.
“Recommendations were made in the areas of training staff in use of fire extinguishers and fire evacuation procedures.
“Since the audit fire evacuation procedures have updated and changed.”
The head of CID, Detective Chief Superintendent Martin Cheeseman also commented on the audit results, saying that all officers and staff members must make learning about fire safety a top priority.