A luxury hotel on the banks of Loch Lomond has been fined half a million pounds over a fire that claimed the lives of two guests. The fine relates to breaches of fire safety rules, inadequate safe systems of work and poor staff training.
The fire started when the night porter placed a plastic bag of ash in a cupboard containing kindling and newspapers in the early hours of the morning. The mix of heat and fuel created perfect conditions for a fire to start which burned for over 24 hours and took over 70 firefighters to bring under control. Tragically, it also resulted in the death of two guests who were not identified as missing until 80 minutes after the fire started.
According to BBC News, the Dumbarton Sheriff Court heard staff were not properly trained in the safe disposal of ash and no written procedures were in place. That was contrary to recommendations made in two fire risk assessments carried out by an independent company in 2016 and 2017.
In addition, there was no safe system nor process in place for emptying the ash bins outside the hotel and it was found that these were both full the day before the fatal fire.
The full article can be found here on the BBC News website.
Source – BBC News
