Fire Safety Disorder

Available for over a year

As more firms are being fined using laws designed to keep people safe from fire, John Waite discovers the government has been breaking its own laws on fire safety. The difference is that while private companies and individuals face huge fines or prison sentences, ministers and civil servants need not worry about such things. That's because they work in buildings classed as crown premises and crown immunity from prosecution covers fire safety laws. Only if someone was to die in a disaster might they find themselves in court under different legislation. And the government is not always as good at following the fire safety regulations as perhaps you might think. Serious failings have emerged at one central government headquarters and other breaches have been uncovered at other parts of the country. All this follows the programme's earlier revelations on towerblocks deemed a danger to residents and the firefighters' training college which hadn't followed fire safety legislation when one of its own buildings burnt down.