WOBO recognises the implications of fires and the provisions for fire safety and the need to learn from past incidents. Governor David Gibson thanks SHP for the link to the article by Lynne Gray.
Lynne Gray, Partner at Burness Paull LP, looks into the recent Cameron House Hotel judgment, which resulted in a £500,000 fine for fire safety failings that led to the deaths of two guests in 2017.
At a time when the majority of people are working from home in the middle of a pandemic, fire safety may not be top of any Board agenda.
However, the sentencing in the Cameron House Hotel fire prosecutions on Friday 29 January 2021 serves as a timely reminder of the importance of fire safety in non-domestic premises.
The case also provides an important precedent under the Scottish Fire Safety Regime, in particular the Fire Safety Scotland Act 2005 and related regulations developed following the tragedy at the Rosepark Care Home fire in 2004.
A £500,000 fine was imposed after Cameron House Resort (Loch Lomond) Limited pleaded guilty to two separate offences in terms of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005.
The fatal fire broke out at the five star hotel on the banks of Loch Lomond in December 2017, a week before Christmas.
The consequences of the fire were significant, both in relation to the structural integrity of the hotel and the ultimate tragedy in taking the lives of two hotel guests unable to safely exit the hotel after being overcome by smoke and gases produced by the fire.
