Fire risk, vulnerable smokers
37 items
2 sources
Inadequate assessment and mitigation of fire risks posed by vulnerable heavy smokers in care settings.
Cross-Source Insight
Fire risk, vulnerable smokers has been flagged across 2 independent accountability sources:
1 inquiry rec
36 PFD reports
This issue has been identified by multiple independent accountability bodies, suggesting it is a recurring systemic concern.
PFD Reports (36)
Muhammad & Naemat Esmael
Concerns: Welsh housing legislation requiring only two hard-wired smoke alarms in rented properties is insufficient, as alarms failed to activate in a contained bedroom fire, posing a risk to life. Crucial items were also prematurely removed from the fire scene, hindering investigation into the cause.
Responded
Raymond Brattley
Concerns: There are inadequate fire prevention measures for vulnerable, heavy-smoking residents in care settings. Organisations should consult the Fire Service for advice on mitigating risks, such as using metal bins and fire-retardant materials.
Responded
Bernadette Faulkner
Concerns: The electricity meter's excessive height and placement behind an inwardly opening door created a significant safety risk for access, compounded by the lack of industry standards for meter accessibility.
Overdue
Bobby Lee
Concerns: A significant rise in fires from faulty e-bike/e-scooter lithium-ion batteries and unsuitable chargers, often from inferior conversion kits and unregulated online sales, highlights the lack of specific safety standards.
Responded
Jill Brice
Concerns: Care residents are not consistently reminded to keep their emergency pendants close, posing a safety risk during emergencies like fires.
Responded
Mizanur Rahman
Concerns: A lack of British or European safety standards for lithium-ion e-bike batteries and chargers allows unsafe products to be sold and mixed, causing fires, thermal runaway, and multiple deaths.
Responded
Brian Harfield
Concerns: There's a critical lack of compulsory fire safety provisions, such as sprinklers, in extra care facilities for vulnerable, immobile residents, leaving them at significant risk of death from fires.
Overdue
Daphne Holloway and Ivy Spriggs
Concerns: Sprinkler systems are not mandatory for care homes with residents of limited mobility, and these buildings aren't classified as 'Higher Risk Buildings' based on occupant vulnerability, leaving them at elevated fire risk.
Overdue
Pauline Allison
Concerns: Insufficient awareness among patients, families, and carers about the increased fire risk from flammable emollient creams, especially when combined with air mattresses, poses a significant safety concern.
Responded
Henry Boddy
Concerns: There is a gap in enforcement powers to effectively address fire risks in residential properties, specifically concerning fire loads arising from hoarding behavior.
Responded
Darrell Spear
Concerns: Agencies failed to effectively manage identified self-neglect and hoarding risks, particularly fire hazards, due to poor inter-agency communication and a lack of clear strategy.
Overdue
Kevin Branton, Richard Smith, Audrey Cook, Alfred Cook and Maureen Cook
Concerns: The absence of a national database for gas appliances hinders rapid identification and tracing of dangerous items. Lack of mandatory recording impedes urgent communication and tracing between stakeholders.
Overdue
Neil Barre
Concerns: Communication between Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service and domiciliary care providers needs improvement to ensure awareness when clients are not using provided fire safety equipment.
Responded
Sylvia Griffiths
Concerns: Consideration should be given to fire and smoke alarms specifically designed for people with dementia, which could improve safety for this vulnerable group.
Responded
Riley Holt, Keegan Unitt, Tilly-Rose Unitt and Olly Unitt
Concerns: Conventional smoke alarms may be ineffective for children under 16, particularly boys, suggesting mandatory fire suppression systems in all new properties, similar to Wales, should be considered.
Responded
Maureen Milton
Concerns: There is insufficient awareness among healthcare professionals and carers about the severe fire risk posed by petrol-based emollient creams, which impregnate clothing and accelerate burns.
Responded
Christopher Hart
Concerns: The housing provider failed to impose fire safety standards for tenant furniture and did not review sprinkler system installation, despite evidence of their life-saving potential.
Responded
Terence Penney
Concerns: A fatal fire resulted from a vapour leak in a relatively new domestic fridge, highlighting a potential widespread safety risk with similar units in circulation.
Overdue
Dorina Zangari
Concerns: Undermined fire safety measures, absent functioning fire detection, and an inadequate alternative escape route in maisonettes place residents at significant risk of death or injury from fire.
Overdue
Sheila Gaskin
Concerns: Despite an identified risk of smoking in bed, carers regularly assisted the deceased to smoke, due to a lack of management oversight and a clear prohibition policy.
Responded
Cedric Skyers
Concerns: The care home's smoking risk assessment for immobile residents fails to adequately address immobility risks, lacks clear guidance on safety equipment provision, and does not document refusal of professional advice.
Responded
Ellen Kelly
Concerns: Residential fire safety is compromised by flat front doors lacking self-closing mechanisms and failing to meet 30-minute fire resistance standards, leading to rapid fire spread and trapping residents.
Responded
Roy Lawton
Concerns: The deceased's dressing gown was highly inflammable regardless of fabric, raising concerns about product safety, the need for flammability warnings, or manufacturing improvements in clothing.
Responded
Steven Billington
Concerns: No specific concerns are detailed in the provided text.
Responded
Sadie Peters, Joseph Peters and George Peters
Concerns: Inadequate awareness programmes exist for the importance of fitting and maintaining smoke detectors in mobile and static caravans, increasing fire safety risks.
Overdue
William Thompson
Concerns: A high-risk service user lacked a smoke detector in his bedroom; social workers failed to assess or address this significant fire safety risk.
Responded
Christopher Holyoake
Concerns: E45 cream, a highly flammable paraffin-based product, lacked fire hazard warnings on its packaging and prescription, leading to a dangerous lack of awareness among carers and the deceased.
Overdue
Andrew Coates
Concerns: An unsuitable wooden shed was licensed for fireworks storage, containing other combustibles and having deficient licensing that failed to specify types or designate a specific site, exacerbated by sketchy inspection records.
Responded
John Hills
Concerns: Paraffin-based emollient creams lacked fire hazard warnings on labels and prescriptions, and risks were not communicated to a known smoker, highlighting a gap in NPSA guidance for lower percentage creams.
Overdue
Irene Hamilton-Parker
Concerns: Clothing made of easily flammable man-made fabrics poses a risk, and steps should be considered to reduce the flammability of manufactured or imported clothing.
Responded
Robert Spring
Concerns: Inadequate communication channels failed to inform the Fire and Rescue Service about high-risk home oxygen users who smoked, preventing assessment for crucial safety equipment like smoke alarms and flame-retardant bedding.
Responded
Santosh Muthiah
Concerns: The inability to identify appliance details after severe fire damage hinders accurate defect pattern recognition, and inconsistent information sharing among Fire & Rescue Services impedes product safety investigations.
Responded
Amanda Richards
Concerns: The absence of domestic sprinkler systems in special accommodation, like Ms Richards', significantly increased the risk of death from fire.
Responded
Anthony Lapping
Concerns: Highly flammable insulation material in a Hotpoint fridge freezer caused rapid fire spread, severely reducing escape opportunities and highlighting an urgent need for manufacturing review.
Responded
Julie Ann Camm
Concerns: A vulnerable tenant's property lacked smoke alarms because the housing association's policy only encouraged fire safety checks, failing to ensure installation and increasing the risk of death from fire.
Response: Leeds City Council's Housing Leeds has updated its Electrical Specification to require hard-wired smoke detection during any major electrical works. They are installing hard-wired smoke detectors in 3,000 properties by …
Responded
Vera Lillian Steel
Concerns: A frail, bedbound resident fatally burned herself while smoking. Care homes should be encouraged to provide fire-protective aprons or smocks to residents who smoke to prevent similar incidents.
Overdue