Hannah Eales, Partner at Kingsley Napley focuses on the fire risk that hotels can pose and employer duties for effective life and property protection.
According to Home Office data, in 2023-2024 in England alone, 587 hotels, boarding houses or hostels had primary fires, of these 458 were accidental, two involved accidental fatalities and there were 92 non-fatal casualties.
Credit: Unsplash / CM
Whilst the above figure includes boarding houses, bed and breakfast accommodation, and animal boarding, it also includes hotels. Just some examples of hotel fires this year have included the solar panel fire at the Travelodge hotel in Poole in March; the hotel fire in Newham in July and a fire believed to have been caused by the failure of an e-bike battery in January in London (see our recent article on the risks posed by lithium-ion batteries). Hotels are often a fire risk due to their old structures, cooking facilities or sometimes negligent guests and ensuring fire safety is paramount, clearly for life safety but also for the hotel business.
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 the ‘responsible person’ is the employer, person who has control of the premises, or the owner. The Order however also places responsibility on anyone else who has, to any extent, control of the premises, so far as the requirements relate to matters within their control. So the responsible person may be the hotel owner, the hotel manager, or anyone responsible for the maintenance or repair of the premises.
Understanding who is the responsible person is key as they must ensure they comply with their duties under the Order. Both individuals and the company can be prosecuted, fines can be substantial if hotels are found in breach and responsible persons can face imprisonment.
The responsible person must ensure they comply with their duties under the Order. These range from ensuring the premises is equipped with appropriate fire-fighting equipment and fire detectors and alarms, to ensuring emergency routes and exits are kept clear. The Order requires responsible persons to take general fire precautions so as to ensure the premises are safe.
One of the key responsibilities of the responsible person is to make a fire risk assessment. The risk assessment must be ‘suitable and sufficient’ to the particular premises. Such risk assessments must be reviewed regularly to ensure they are up to date.
Responsible persons have a duty under the order to take general fire precautions, including active and passive fire safety measures. An active fire safety measure is one that requires action being taken to detect or stop a fire.
Examples include fire alarm systems, sprinkler systems, smoke ventilation and fire extinguishers.
Credit: Unsplash / Tony Yakovlenko
A passive fire safety measure is one which, once installed correctly, does not require action to be taken to detect or stop fire. Examples include fire doors, compartmentation or fire dampers. In terms of fire doors, these not only need to be the correct specification and tested to the approved standard, but installed correctly so that they can hold back fire and smoke, preventing escape routes becoming unusable as well as preventing the spread of smoke and fire.
Some of the most common fire hazards in hotels are damaged fire doors, incorrectly installed seals on the doors or them being wedged open. The Order also specifically requires the responsible person to ensure that routes to emergency exits are kept clear and indicated by signs and emergency lighting where necessary. Again, one of the most common fire hazards in hotels is insufficient fire safety signage.
A requirement of the Order is that the responsible person ensures that their employees are provided with adequate safety training. This must be done at the time they are first employed and if they are exposed to new or increased risk due to a change in role, new equipment or technology or a change to an existing system of work.
The responsible person must also provide employees with information relevant to the risks identified in the risk assessment and the measures taken to address these.
“As for the Building Safety Act, secondary legislation has confirmed that standalone hotels do not come within the definition of a ‘higher risk building’ to which the Act applies.”
The premises must be subject to a suitable system of maintenance, be maintained in an efficient state and be in efficient working order and good repair. In appointing an individual or organisation to deal with maintenance the responsible person should ensure they are competent to do so.
As for the Building Safety Act, secondary legislation has confirmed that standalone hotels do not come within the definition of a ‘higher risk building’ to which the Act applies. This may change in the future however, so those working in the hotel industry should keep an eye on this.
Hannah Eales at Kingsley Napley
It is also of note that mixed use developments, such as hotels which form part of the same building as a premises which is considered a higher risk building, could fall under the Act. In addition, in December 2022, hotels over 18 metres were brought within the scope of the Combustible Materials Ban.
The ban means that combustible materials cannot be used on the external walls of a building. This includes, for example cladding, balconies and solar panels.
At the moment, this only applies to new hotels, however, if an existing hotel has refurbishment or building work completed in respect of the external wall system then they will fall within the ban. It may be that the government legislate in the future to bring existing hotels within the scope of the ban.
Clearly fire safety in hotels is of paramount importance to ensure the life safety of guests and employees. However, not only can breaches also result in severe property damage and the associated cost, penalties for failing to comply with the Order are dealt with by the criminal courts and can result in a significant fine and up to two years in prison.
