Oxfordshire Fire Services is making surprise visits to clubs this week to check their safety procedures. This follows a Cherwell investigation last week revealing not all clubs adhered to rules.
The Station Manager of the Oxfordshire Fire Services has made an unannounced ‘during performance’ inspection of three of the main clubs on Wednesday night. John Nixon started his inspection at 10.30pm and finished at 12.30am.
He said, “I can confirm that I personally went out to conduct a ‘during performance’ inspection of Escape, Kukui and OFS. The main purpose was to find out the staff’s understanding of what they should do when the fire alarm goes off. I spoke to the managers and the staff and it is ongoing.”
Steve Harrison, the Fire Risk Manager for the Oxford City Fire Brigade said his officers had made an initial visit to both Kukui and Escape last Tuesday.
He explained, “The records were as we would expect them to be. We got the assurance and confirmation that before the staff started working that night the managers would confirm that everyone was aware of fire safety training.
There is a Fire and Safety Order which has arranged a full fire audit of both Kukui and Escape. One is programmed for Thursday and the other for Friday. There will be a full fire audit of OFS next week.”
He confirmed the Station Manager’s unannounced inspections of the clubs while they were trading and stated the goal was to question staff on their fire safety training.
He said, “The Station Manager will visit all three clubs, either tonight or tomorrow night, while they are trading and with no prior notice to the clubs. They will have a personal chat with staff to make sure they are aware of fire safety training and so we can confirm for ourselves.”
He added that the fire services routinely inspect a selected number of licensed premises every six weeks under the Nightsafe partnership. He said, “We do on the spot checks to make sure for example the door staff are aware of the procedures and the DJ is aware of what to do if the fire alarm goes off.”
The Nightsafe partnership was launched in October 2004. The partnership includes Oxford City Council, Thames Valley Police, Oxfordshire County Council, Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service and the Oxford City Primary Health Care Trust. Oxford Nightsafe carries out multi-agency inspections on selected licensed premises.
