Here are our top tips for complying with fire regulations if you work in a hotel:
1. Everything starts with a fire risk assessment
All hotels, whatever the size, must complete one. Regular checks of the building need to be made to ensure that fire doors are not damaged in any way. Fire doors must be kept closed and not wedged open. Hazards, such as frayed wiring or blocked escape routes, must be removed.
2. Risk assessments should be ongoing
All risks must be noted and dealt with as soon as possible, rather than a ‘tick-box’ exercise carried out once a year.
3. Staff training is vital to ensure hotel fire safety
All employees need to be able to identify and report fire risks, as well as knowing all escape routes, and what to do in an emergency. Try to spread out fire training across the year. This includes evacuation drills, how to use a fire blanket, fire extinguisher training and how to change the lint filters in tumble dryers.
4. Make sure that there is a clear evacuation route in case of emergency.
Watch out for the following hazards:
- Wedged open fire doors. If a fire door is wedged open, fire and smoke can spread easily rather than being contained. This will make evacuation difficult as corridors will become full of smoke
- Corridors cluttered with stored furniture will make escape difficult
- Inaccessible stairwells because of a fire door rendered useless with a door wedge
- Confusing signs
What does the law say?
The Fire Safety Order (FSO) is the current law in England and Wales. This states that one ‘responsible person’ (usually the owner or manager) is in charge of compliance. This ‘responsible person’ can nominate a ‘competent person’ to receive the fire training and ensure day-to-day compliance with regulations if they prefer.
Common breaches of fire regulations in hotels
Fire safety experts checked a group of 17 hotels in Liverpool, Sheffield, Birmingham and Manchester. They found issues which breached fire regulations in almost every one. What were the most common things they encountered?
- Ill-fitting doors in frames
- Damaged fire doors
- Fire and smoke seals in poor condition
- Fire doors wedged open
What are the penalties?
In England and Wales, a breach of fire regulations used to result in a fine of up to £5,000 in the Magistrates’ courts unlike the Crown Court where the penalty was an unlimited fine and/or prison.
Now, the penalty in the Magistrates’ Court is an unlimited fine and the person responsible for fire safety will be prosecuted as an individual, not as a company. This means that in future, less cases need to go to the Crown Court and fines can increase, especially if you have a significant turnover. On top of this, any enforcement action is published online for everyone to see.
Here are some of the heftiest recorded fines that the UK hotel industry has seen:
5. White Swan Hotel, Arundel, 2007
£25,000
When a fire broke out at the White Swan Hotel, 10 guests were left trapped in their bedrooms. The guests were rescued, but subsequent investigations found a list of serious fire safety breaches.
- Fire doors were wedged open
- Fire alarms weren’t tested correctly
- Staff did not have adequate fire safety training
- Fire alarm panel was switched to ‘silent’ mode.
- No suitable emergency plan in case of a fire.
4. Tantons Hotel, Bideford, 2011
£40,000
Tantons Hotel was ordered to pay £40,000 in fines after being condemned for breaching fire safety regulations. 55 guests narrowly escaped serious injury or death after a fire broke out. At 4am:
- The fire alarm failed
- A guest was sent back to their room when fire was spreading through the building and
- A fire exit was blocked by cans of cooking oil
- An elderly guest was fearful for her life when she was trapped between a fire exit which failed to open and another door that had no handle. The judge commented that the hotel was a ‘death trap.’
3. The Belfry Hotel, Cheshire, 2008
£75,000
Firefighters carried out a routine visit to this luxury hotel and discovered their inadequate safety precautions were putting their guests at serious risk. They found:
- No working fire alarms
- Faulty smoke detectors
- Poor fire exits
- Lack of fire safety training for staff.
- The hotel was immediately closed but re-opened after the issues were resolved and the required equipment fitted.
2. The Radnor Hotel, London, 2015
£200,000
The former owner of The Radnor Hotel was fined £200,000 — the biggest ever fine from the London Fire Brigade, after a routine inspection found several serious fire safety breaches.
- Missing fire doors
- No fire risk assessment
- Inadequate fire detection systems and emergency lighting
- Fire doors were tied open using string, extension cords and an extinguisher used as a wedge
- The former owner was also given a four month prison sentence.
1. The Chumleigh Lodge Hotel, London, 2012
£210,000
The offences date back to 2008. The fire brigade were called when a fire spread rapidly from a first floor bedroom to the second floor. Three people escaped. After the fire, fire inspectors found 12 offences including:
- Obstructed fire escape routes
- No smoke alarms
- Defective fire doors
- Unsuitable fire risk assessment and no staff training
- The case was a landmark hearing, as it was the first time a jury convicted a defendant rather than a judge or magistrate.
A fire has traumatic consequences if preventative measures aren’t in place. Fines, closure and loss of reputation can follow a fire, as well as the risk of someone dying.
Compliance doesn’t need to be complicated or difficult for you, we can help, with solutions that make compliance easy. And maybe you can avoid a situation like this one!
We recently were booked at the Arran House hotel, 77 Gower Street Camden London WC1E 6HU
There were multiple fire safety violations, and I can provide photographs. There was a mattress and box spring propped in a hallway, blocking both the fire extinguisher and the fire exit (up stairs). The tiny, unsanitary room had two twin beds crammed in, head-to-head, so that the bed partially blocked the doorway. There were many large bags of dirty linen lining the main entrance, also blocking it. Even in daylight, the hotel is a warren of confusing hallways and stairs that lead nowhere. In an emergency it would be almost impossible to get out safely. The manager’s office had a homemade set up of many electrical plugs and dozens of cords connecting myriad electronic devices. I cannot believe any of the above meets code for fire safety in the UK. I filed a complaint with Bookings.com and they are saying they “didn’t know”, but I’ve found similar complaints on TripAdvisor for this business, dating back years. Its is a Grenfell waiting to happen. Please close them down, soonest.
Thank you
Hi Katharine, thank you for your comment.
You’ve described a situation that I’m sure the authorities would like to look into.
The London Fire Brigade website encourages people to report risks directly, you can find contact details here:
https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/FireSafetyRegulationTeams.asp
They state: “These risks may have serious implications and are dealt with quickly and in confidence by us. A ‘risk to life’ could include a disregard to fire safety practices, for example, blocked or locked fire exits.”
Thanks for the response. I have reported, per your suggestion. I am a “brave” traveler, but that place frightened me.
Best Western Hotel, Gatwick, use their car park for long term airport parking. There are so many cars parked here that the only part of the hotel that is accessible for the fire brigade is the reception area. The whole perimeter is crammed full of long term parked vehicles. There are around 50 vehicles stored bumper to bumper 5 deep by 7 wide beneath our second floor plus the access road bumper to bumper 2 cars wide below our window. If there was a fire in the corridor outside our room we would be trapped.
Hi I had my wedding at a hotel who have a no naked flame policy and staff lit all the candles causing the artificial flowers to set on fire. It was the children’s table and no staff were about to put it out. My sister in law got burnt putting it out. They’ve accepted it’s their fault. But who do i report it too.
Hi Sarah,
Each hotel will have a designated “responsible person” who is responsible for fire safety. It should be reported to them or hotel management.
After that, if you feel the venue is not meeting fire safety requirements, you can report them to your local fire service.
Can the hotel duty manager refuse to give a key for a patio door on the second floor
Hi Denise. There is no straight forward answer to this. It all depends on what the hotel’s Health & Safety report and Fire Risk Assessment advises. If you have concerns, you can contact the local Fire Service for further advice.
Hi there,
Could you please advise as to whether a smoke detector in a hotel room covered with tape is illegal or not?. Also would an extraction vent in a bathroom clogged with dust/fluff pose a risk ??
Thank you.
Hi Lou-Cee
The hotel is responsible for ensuring that the detector is in working order. If the tape is in any way preventing the smoke detector from working, or is a sign that the detector is not in full working order, it would be an offence. Some of the examples above mention faulty smoke alarms or inadequate detection systems in the justification for fines.
It is also common for people to deliberately obstruct the smoke detector, normally so they can smoke inside a hotel room. This is also an offence.
Thanks for your reply Sam. This is very helpful.
I recently stayed in a hotel in Maidenhead and the bedroom door had a gap at the bottom of at least 1 inch. It did not state it was a fire door, but surely they should be at least fitted properly?
My husband and I are elderly and while staying in a hotel in Northampton the fire bell sounded as we were sleeping, we evacuated immediately and were taken to reception. For the next 40 minutes staff and management were running around and only when I reached over the desk for the phone did they summon the fire brigade. The fault was a broken glass in fire bell in a hallway
How do you find out if a hotel has an enforcement on it, restricting overnight room reservations?
Small single bed rooms in a hotel consisting of 12 rooms on two levels. Can smoke and heat detectors wired on lighting circuit be sufficient. And would there be a need for one in each room. Or does it have to be a system coming from a control panel with break glass units
for a hotel that is undergoing alterations and upgrades while there are people still staying there, for ensuring that they have sufficient fire safety provisons above the fact that they have method statements for hot works, Pre-planning for emergencies, do they have to have any more provisions in case of a fire situation?
stayed in a 3rd floor hotel room. The room had a set of patio doors which had no handles and could only be locked by a member of staff. Is this a breach of health and safety in regard to the event of a fire where i was unable to use the hotel room door to escape.
Hi, I was recently booked into a hotel in Brighton which I considered a dangerous fire risk.There were no evacuation notices,faulty electrics, badly fitting doors and no fire extinguishers on the upper level which was accessed by a spiral dangerous staircase. Where should I report this please.
Hi Helen. You can report fire hazards directly to the local fire services. In this case, the East Sussex fire service can be contacted on 0303 999 1000
Recently stayed at the Metropole at Blackpool. Our room had 2 doors, left and right leading to the balcony, both securely screwed, glued and locked at the bottom so impossible to open. The windows do not open but above there are small windows about 6 foot high that open about 3-4 inch but are prevented from opening further due to security cables so impossible to escape through and wouldn’t provide any ventilation in a fire if the hotel door was blocked due to fire in the corridor. Tried to take it up with the obnoxious manager but was told pretty much im an idiot ! Someone will die in this hotelif there is a fire due to the corridors being so long and all lead to other corridors. Need to sort it but dont know where to start.
Is this only relevant to hotels in the UK
Last week I stayed in a hotel in Granada in Spain that was a death trap as the the stairwell for 4 floors was completely open to all the corridors, Bedroom door and frame not fire proof, large gap under the bedroom door, no smoke alarm, etc, etc
Not sure who to contact due to perhaps a language problem
Hi Martin. Although there will be some similarities in EU fire safety regulations, there may be differences that we are not aware of. Here is a link to a resource that you might find helpful. http://cfpa-e.eu/national-regulations/regulations-spain/
In a hotel, does each meeting room for a business conference have a restriction on the number of people it can accommodate to comply with fire and health and safety regulations?
There is no set number of people that can occupy a room at one time as it depends on a variety of factors e.g. escape routes, size of the room etc. This document provides more in-depth information https://www.merseyfire.gov.uk/aspx/pages/protection/pdf/Calculating_Occupancy_assembly_buildings_GT.pdf
The Hotel I am staying at in London, England they have a table in the
Hallway with towels on for housekeeping.
Would that not be a Fire hazard for guests if a fire broke out.?
Central Park hotel.
I also heard another guest tell housekeeping that is a fire hazard.
Thanks for your comment, Sir Robert! This is a tricky one and difficult to give you an answer without seeing it for ourselves. Providing that the table leaves enough room for people to safely evacuate, then it’s probably not a compliance issue. If however, the table blocks the entire hallway, making it difficult for, say, a wheelchair user to get past, then potentially this is a problem. Any concerns should be reported to the hotel manager or, if you can seek them out, the hotels fire safety officer. You could also report it to the London Fire Brigade, which encourages people to report risks directly. You can find contact details here:
https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/FireSafetyRegulationTeams.asp
They state: “These risks may have serious implications and are dealt with quickly and in confidence by us. A ‘risk to life’ could include a disregard to fire safety practices, for example, blocked or locked fire exits.”
I’m contacting you since we are looking to buy a hotel to transform into a self-check-in apart/hotel (without staff except room maid). We are wondering if we need a presence 24/7 in the hotel. What are the laws saying in terms of security or fire safety? I couldn’t find anything on this.
Hi we recently stayed at a hotel in Lytham St Annes.
The window in our room was of the old sash window type. The bottom part of the window had a secondary glazed panel over it that had been riveted (literally) to the first unit, making it completely sealed shut.
The top window had limited opening (about a hands width) and was difficult to reach.
In a fire you would not be able to escape through the room window. So if there was a fire outside your room it is unlikely you would escape.
I have never come across this before and we have stayed in many hotels.
Is this legal please?