Posted By Phillipe The following link is very interesting. It concerns the recent 'spate of fires' in hotel accommodation in the UK which has resulted in a number of fatalities. It ponders the question about whether the enforcement of the RRO is being implemented in higher risk establishments such as hotels/guest houses or is it simply a question of the hoteliers not being aware of the RRO and the need for a FRA of their premises? The recent hotel fire in Newquay which claimed 3 lives, according to the report states the hotel had a Fire Certificate. That is all well and good, but seeing as the requirement for a FRA replaced the requirement for a fire certificate almost 12 months ago, then the production of a fire certificate is worthless. Given that the investigation into the fire is currently being undertaken, i would expect this to be a landmark case perhaps in the event of any possible litigation that may ensue. Not working in the hotel industry, it is difficult to pass comment on Fire Officer inspections, but certainly in retail, the Fire Officers are constantly entering our premises asking to see FRA and quick off the mark to put anything in writing where they see a deficiency. Whilst I welcome their input, i do despair when i see people dying in hotel fires which in my opinion happens an awful lot more than in any retail environment that I have come across having worked in this industry...perhaps the Fire Officers should re-focus their attention towards areas where blatant disregard for fire safety is perhaps more prevalent and goes unchecked? In my opinion, retailers I have worked for take fire safety seriously and spend a lot of time effort and money in pre planned maintenance, checks, testing and implementation of the right procedures and systems to ensure both staff and customers are safe. I must admit that I have never heard a fire alarm being tested in a hotel whilst I have stayed in one. Your thoughts Phil http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7001313.stm

Posted By Ashley Wood Phil, I have spoken with several enforcing officers across the country and they all report that on average only 20% of all fire risk assessment reports that they view are suitable and sufficient. This is across all industries. regarding the hotel and guest house industry, they are being heavily audited because of the life risks. The problem is that a lot of the smaller guest houses do not have the cash to make changes, so unfortunately a lot will have to close. I recently stayed in a holiday inn where the fire alarm system was still in a fault condition. I have stayed there several times over the past few weeks and it has been in fault every time. That worries me as this organisation has the money to put things right! I have carried out many hundreds of FRA's for all types of risks and can confirm what the enforcing authorities are saying. I have surveyed hotels and guest houses that I frankly would not stay in afterwards! The general 'word on the street' is that enforcers are being told to focus their attention on business or organisations where there is a high life safety issue, so it is just a matter of time before hotels, guest houses, residential homes, sheltered schemes etc have their collars felt, so to speak! Over the last few months I have seen a great many questions on this forum about fire risk assessments, most have been good honest questions but several have troubled me. In my professional opinion if you have to ask for a 'template' of how to do a risk assessment then you are not competent to do the task and it is this sort of thing that is reflected in the number of unsuitable FRA's been viewed by the enforcers. For what little it costs I would get an accredited fire risk assessor to do the task, one who has PI and ample experience in legislation(not necessarily a retired fire fighter. I know this statement is probably going to shake out a few hornets. If I asked on this forum for a template so that I could do a health and safety assessment, would that make me competent? Anyway, back to the main question again. The Newquey fire has rased a lot of issues, fire certificates being one of them. As you say the building should have been assessed after October 1st and the old cert, thrown in the bin. Only the enquiry will find out if it was. The problem with certificates is that they can be old and this one may have been, who knows.