|
A former restaurant manager has been ordered to pay over £7,000
in fines and costs after pleading guilty to serious breaches of fire
safety legislation following a prosecution brought by the London Fire
Brigade.
Mr Wei Chen was managing Kan's Chinese and Thai Cuisine at the time
of the breaches admitted guilt on 10 contraventions of the Regulatory
Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Sentencing occurred on Monday 26
October 2009 at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court.
Mr Wei Chen was running Kan's Chinese and Thai Cuisine on Ball's Pond
Road in Kingsland when fire inspectors visited the premises on Ball's
Pond Road, Kingsland on 11 June 2007. A number of fire safety
breaches were found and an enforcement notice was issued requiring Mr
Wei Chen to remedy the faults by 11 April 2008.
A further inspection took place on 29 April 2008 and all of the fire
safety breaches were still evident. These included no fire warning
system, no fire exit signs and inadequate fire safety training to
staff. There was also no fire risk assessment done for the premises.
It was noted in court that there had been a history of non compliance
with fire regulations dating back to December 2005.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order places a duty on a defined
'responsible person' for the premises (the person who controls the
premises e.g. a landlord/manager/owner) to carry out a fire risk
assessment, take appropriate measures to minimise the risk of fire
and implement general fire precautions to protect people in the
premises if a fire occurs. The assessment and the fire precautions
must be kept under review by the 'responsible person'. In this case
Mr Wei Chen was the responsible person.
Assistant Commissioner for fire safety regulation Steve Turek said:
"Knowing about fire safety is not an option if you are the
responsible person it is a necessity and if people do not adhere to
the legislation then as shown in this case we can prosecute. The
general public should feel safe from fire when going out to places
like restaurants and the responsible person must make sure their
premises comply with the regulations. All premises owners and
operators must undertake a fire safety risk assessment, which is now
mandatory, act upon its findings and put in place an emergency
plan."
|
