Fire safety inspectors shift focus to care homes

Data obtained from the London Fire Brigade (LFB) over the last three years shows an increase in care homes and hostel probes as a percentage of overall LFB inspections. This is due to the LFB considering that there is now a greater risk of fatalities in these kind of properties than in tower blocks following improvements to fire safety after the fatal 2009 Lakanal House fire.

Care homes and hostels made up 15.2% of all 9,115 inspections in 2014/15, compared to just 6.7% of 12,503 inspections in 2012/13.

There was also a proportionate increase in the number of enforcement notices- statutory notices giving landlords a deadline for carrying out remedial works to their properties- for care homes, sheltered housing and hostels. These types of properties represented 83.7% of all 49 notices in 2014/15, compared to 65.7% of 73 notices in 2012/13.

Nick Coombe, fire safety regulation performance manager at the London Fire Brigade said: ‘We are shifting away from tower blocks now and focussing on the vulnerable. ‘Sheltered housing, care homes and hostels are our priority, as our figures show that a fatality is more likely for fires in these building types.’

Despite the proportionate increase, overall inspections and enforcement notices fell last year. The LFB said this was due to fewer resources and to more intensive and time-consuming inspections of care homes.

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