10 Apr 2013
A care home firm has been fined £35,000 for serious breaches of fire safety.
Lancashire-based D.M. Care, which owns the Ambassador Care Home in Blackpool, breached the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 seven times.
The company was found to have failed to provide a suitable fire risk assessment, a suitable fire evacuation strategy and adequate staff training. It also blocked exit routes and failed to provide adequate fire detection.
The company was prosecuted by Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service after a fire safety inspection carried out in the aftermath of a fire identified serious breaches of fire safety regulations.
D.M. Care was fined the maximum of £5,000 per offence and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £5,375, a total of £40,375.
Paul Ratcliffe, protection support manager for Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “The substantial total of fines with costs of £40,375 is the highest amount we have seen imposed in cases such as this in Lancashire and must surely stand as a powerful deterrent for anyone who might suppose that ensuring fire safety in premises they are responsible for is an option and not an obligation in law.”
Copyright Press Association 2013