At least four more government buildings have been found in breach of fire safety legislation, a BBC investigation has revealed.
There was no suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment carried out at central government offices in Newcastle on Tyne and in Nottingham until April and May this year – almost four years after the Fire Safety Order came into force – while an assessment at offices in Cambridge had not been reviewed for two years, according to a BBC Radio 4 programme called Fire Safety Disorder.
The revelations come just six weeks after info4fire broke the news that CLG’s London headquarters at Eland House was the subject of a Crown enforcement notice detailing numerous and serious breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
The current fire minister, Bob Neill, had previously sought to shift the blame on the last government. But theFace the Facts programme also revealed breaches of the Fire Safety Order during an inspection last month – well after the general election – at the London headquarters of the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. In that case, the inspector found that “the fire risk assessment is not suitable nor sufficient” and that “no emergency plan specific to the premises was available”. The inspector went on to note that the building’s facilities manager demonstrated very little experience, training or knowledge that would enable him to undertake his fire safety duties.
Fire safety consultant , Colin Todd, who made the initial Freedom of Information request which exposed the enforcement action at CLG’s Eland House, said: “It simply seemed just and proper that government should be complying with their own legislation, and I was interested to know whether that was the case or not.”
Speaking to the government’s chief fire and rescue adviser, Sir Ken Knight, Face the Facts also revealed that level of breaches requiring enforcement action on Crown premises was as high as that on non-government buildings – at around 4% of all audits.
Commenting on the enforcement notice on Eland House, Sir Ken said: “That shows that without fear or favour, we apply consistently the fire safety legislation that applies, even in the building in which we happen to be working and have our offices. I’m disappointed that they would happen here as anywhere else, and I am sure that those responsible for fire safety administration and the law would be equally disappointed – and somewhat embarrassed.”
The programme also discovered that in addition to Eland House there have been 19 other occasions when Crown premises have been subject to enforcement notices since the Fire Safety Order came into being in 2006.
The programme’s presenter, John Waite, concluded: “Central government departments which we might expect to set the highest fire safety standards are, in some cases, actually breaching them. Yet because of Crown immunity, those in government escape the full force of the law, while those in the private sector face ever higher fines and even imprisonment.”
