to pay costs of £45,000 after pleading guilty to three breaches of the
Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order at the Inner London Crown Court
on 2nd June 2009. This is the largest penalty under the legislation to
date.
The company was prosecuted by the London Fire Brigade following two
small fires at the Shell Centre on London's South Bank in the space of
three weeks.
A subsequent inspection on 12th January 2007 concluded that there were
extensive breaches such as blocked escape routes and fire exits,
defective doors and excessive fire loading, which had been
considerably increased due to refurbishments taking place in the upper
floors.
The Shell Tower and basement levels were restricted after the London
Fire Brigade served a prohibition notice. This stated only people who
were working to remedy the fire safety deficiencies were allowed to
enter these parts of the building. An inspection carried out on 15th
January 2007 showed that all of the fire safety failings had been
taken care of and ultimately the prohibition notice was lifted.
It was also found that the company's fire risk assessment had not been
reviewed or updated since March 2003. The London Fire Brigade said
that the condition of the general fire precautions in the building had
deteriorated.
"Shell failed to respond properly to their risk assessment for three
and a half years and had it not been for the fires which led to the
inspection, it could have been considerably longer," said assistant
commissioner Steve Turek. "Had Shell acted upon the findings of the
2003 risk assessment at the time, they would have avoided putting
their staff at risk."
The first of the fires was on 19th December 2006 in the early hours of
the morning, in which four fire engines and 20 fire fighters attended
the scene. The second occurred on 5th January 2007, which was started
by cutting equipment setting fire to insulation material. Forty people
evacuated the building before the London Fire Brigade arrived.
London fire commissioner, Ron Dobson, said: "This conviction shows
that major companies are not exempt from prosecution and must take
their responsibilities under the RRO seriously."
Commenting in response to the conviction, a spokesperson for Shell
said: "We are sorry for the shortcomings but must emphasise there were
no injuries to people. We put things right immediately and have also
had an independent review of our fire safety plans and condition of
the building. Shell Centre is safe and we are complying fully with the
law."
