Owners of Rochdale residential home fined for fire safety breaches
The owners of a residential care home in the Greater Manchester town of Rochdale have been fined after admitting a number of fire safety breaches, including a failure to provide staff with proper fire training.
The Newhey Manor care home was visited by inspectors in April 2010, as part of a routine inspection. Specialist safety officers uncovered a number of serious fire safety breaches at the home, including:
- Failure to provide adequate fire safety training for care workers
- Failure to keep emergency exits and escape routes clear
- Failure to reduce the risks (as far as reasonably possible) posed by dangerous substances
- Failure to conduct a suitable and thorough fire risk assessment
For these four breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the owner of the Newhey Manor care home, Lily Care Ltd, was fined a total of £4,688.
Steve McGuirk, a County Fire Officer and the Chief Executive of Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service, commented on the outcome of the case, saying:
“We always support businesses that work to make their premises safe for people to use. But we are also willing to take actions to protect the people of Greater Manchester where business owners and managers choose not to treat fire safety as a legitimate business requirement, and where necessary will prosecute serious offenders.”