Safety Signs News

Fire signs importance highlighted

24th March 2011 | Health and Safety Signs, Fire Signs

Posted by Ben Alexander.

A Yorkshire firm that owned a Cornwall hotel ravaged by a fire has admitted breaching fire health and safety regulations.

Hotels and other establishments can use fire safety signs as part of their risk assessment planning.

Three people died as a result of the fire at Penhallow Hotel in Newquay in 2007.

Halifax-based O&C Holdsworth admitted failing to undertake a proper risk assessment and install adequate fire detection and alarm systems at the hotel.

A risk assessment may have included where fire safety signs could be best placed in the event of an evacuation.

The company was prosecuted by Cornwall Council and Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service.

Flames from the fire, described as the worst in the UK for 40 years, reached 30ft into the sky and the blaze was tackled by over 100 firefighters.

Around 90 people escaped from the hotel but three people died.

The fire is thought to have begun in a store room used to house drinks for the hotel bar.

Speaking after the case, a brother and son of two people who died as a result of the blaze, said: "The best thing that could come out of this is that the tourism agencies and hotels sit up and take note. There are still premises and hotels around the country that are not complying with fire regulations."

The firm will be sentenced in May. ADNFCR-2754-ID-800474393-ADNFCR