Recent report indicated there has been an exponential increase in prosecutions for contraventions of fire safety legislation, with the potential, in any such case, to allege a failure adequately to review or carry out a fire risk assessment on the basis that, had there been a current and adequate fire risk assessment, the contraventions would not have occurred.

The seriousness with which the Courts treat this failure is exemplified in the sentences now imposed, including the two highest fines in the history of fire safety legislation, namely £300,000 fine imposed on Shell (for failure to review a fire risk assessment) and the £400,000 fine imposed on New Look (for failure to carry out a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment and failure to carry out staff training, with £250,000 of the fine arising from the failure of a fire risk assessment to be suitable and sufficient); the appeal against the New Look fine was recently dismissed by the Court of Appeal, so possibly setting the standard for future fines of Large businesses.