No plan for fire at night, admits care home boss

The owner of a care home where 14 elderly people died in a fire said that before the tragedy he had not fully considered the practicalities of evacuating residents from one particular area of the building if a blaze broke out at night.

Thomas Balmer, 63, told a fatal accident inquiry into the fire at Rosepark care home in Uddingston, Lanarkshire, that there was a policy in place which stipulated that residents would be moved away in both directions from the site of any incident.

He was shown a plan of one corridor within the upper floor of the premises, which contained several bedrooms, and said that bedsheets and mattresses would be used to help residents who were not mobile to get away from that area if necessary.

But he said that he did not have a specific understanding of the timescales involved and also admitted he had not specifically considered how the evacuation would happen if a fire broke out at night.

Advocate Depute James Wolffe QC, for the Crown, asked: “Going back to the time before the fire, had you at any time applied your mind to the practicalities of evacuating 14 residents from that part of the building?”

Mr Balmer replied: “Other than moving residents, if there was an incident, away from the room the incident was in, in both directions, other than that, no.”

Mr Wolffe asked: “Would you have an understanding of the timescales involved in moving 14 residents to another compartment?” Mr Balmer replied: “Not specifically to say what sort of time it would take.”

Asked about the space for accommodating residents who had been directed away from that corridor in the event of an incident, he said there “certainly seemed to be sufficient room”.

But Mr Wolffe then asked: “Had you, before the fire, applied your mind to that question specifically under reference to fire taking place at night?”

Mr Balmer said: “Not specifically.”

The fire, which broke out at around 4.30am on January 31, 2004, is thought to have started in the upper floor of the building, in a linen cupboard which contained sheets, blankets, and a fuse box.

The inquiry, at the GLO Centre in Motherwell, was shown a fire safety video which was used in the training of staff. It stated that care home staff should “make sure potentially flammable materials are situated away from heat sources in locked cupboards”.

Mr Balmer said that at the time, he did not consider an electrical distribution box to be a heat source and he acknowledged that the two cupboards in that upper floor corridor were not locked.

He added: “With hindsight they should have been locked closed.”

Mr Balmer was shown copies of health and safety regulations which set out the duties to employers.

He said that he accepted he had an obligation to carry out risk assessments of the health and safety of employees and other people not in employment on site.

But he said that “in practical terms the best person suited to the role would be your care manager” and the Rosepark care manager took responsibility for the day to day running of this aspect of the business.

He added that he had employed a health and safety expert to carry out risk assessments, but he accepted a statement by Mr Wolffe that his own dealings with risk assessment of health and safety of workers were “reactive to particular problems, as opposed to something which is proactive”.

Earlier, Mr Balmer said he was “perplexed” that an electrical switch to a washing machine on the lower ground floor was connected to a circuit breaker on the upper floor.

He said he was told by George Harvie, owner of Star Electrical, that this was done because the power was for a heavier sluice machine and putting the circuit breaker upstairs would help to “even the load”.

But he said: “Being informed that was the case, I felt it strange … because the rest of the circuits were on the lower floor.”

The inquiry continues.