Warnings over fire safety risks at a business which burned down will be investigated by the Health and Safety Executive, reports the Blackpool Gazette.

A report that allegedly highlighted an ‘extremely high’ risk of fire at Elite Linen, to bosses is to form part of the regulator’s investigation into a blaze which broke out at the property last month.

In a report sent to the Gazette authored by a safety expert, it was concluded an inspector from the HSE ‘would (in my opinion) issue a prohibition notice to this site’ and revealed a number of alleged failings, including:

• The gas supply to an industrial boiler following a ‘torturous path’, with pipes propped up with bricks
• A wooden box built around a burner that ‘significantly increased the fire risk’
• The same enclosure posing a carbon monoxide risk ‘in an area where there is a high concentration of residential housing’
• A gas booster with ‘little to no ventilation’, which could have caused a ‘fire with dire consequences’
• Ventilation for the boilerhouse being ‘totally inadequate’.

A spokeswoman for the HSE told the Gazette that the government watchdog had ‘no record’ of receiving any such report before yesterday, but added: “Now we are aware of it, we will be making further enquiries.”

Original source

Blackpool Gazette