Heavy fine comes as pair found in breach of 12 offences across four premises.
Businesses have been urged to check they are compliant with fire safety duties under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 – as amended by the Building Safety Act 2022 – after two directors of a care home business had to pay nearly £125,000 for breaches of the legislation.
Thuraisamy Ravichandran and Radha Ravichandran – both directors of of Care Pro (Southeast) Limited – were fined on 9 July after pleading guilty to 12 offences at Brighton Magistrates Court in April.
In October and November 2022, East Sussex Fire and Rescue officers visited four care homes in Bexhill-on-Sea run by the defendants. They identified a failure to discharge their duties to take general fire precautions at the care homes (Article 8), a failure to provide adequate firefighting and fire detection equipment (Article 13), and a failure to carry out and record a “suitable and sufficient” fire risk assessment (Article 9).
Four premises
According to East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, all four premises had defective or missing fire alarm systems; damage to fire doors and a lack of self-closures (the doors separated the only means of escape from fire risk rooms such as bedrooms, kitchens and lounges); and fire risk assessments which were not current and not suitable or sufficient, as they did not consider the failings that were identified.
District Judge Szagun, when considering the prosecution sentencing guidelines, upheld culpability to be high and the level of harm to be medium. In her judgement, the number of vulnerable residents placed at risk due to the defective fire doors and lack of detection and alarms raised the level of harm to a higher level. The judge added that the owners should have taken the time to understand published regulations and guidance when providing this type of service.
The defendants were fined £27,500 per offence for four of the offences, with guilty charges upheld for the remaining offences but no separate penalty awarded. This resulted in a £110,000 fine, a £2,000 victim surcharge and £12,455 costs.
‘One of the most serious cases’
“The fire service considers this one of the most serious cases we have ever prosecuted due to a number of offences found in various premises operated by the company,” said Group Protection Legislation and Enforcement Manager, Craig Williams. “The fine handed down by the court today reflects the serious nature of the offences. Owners and those responsible for any premises where the fire service find fire safety contraventions are reminded of the potential consequences, including unlimited fines and potential custodial sentences.”
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