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Prohibition notice lifted on Sheffield apartment block

A Sheffield apartment block has had a prohibition notice lifted, after work to address serious fire safety concerns was completed.

Fire safety inspecting officers from South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue served a prohibition notice on Wicker Riverside in December because previously identified issues with the building had not been resolved.

The notice had been due to come into force on 31 January- but work undertaken by the responsible persons to address the issues means it has now been lifted. Residents previously evacuated from floors six to 10 of the building have also been allowed to return.

SYFR Assistant Chief Fire Officer Andy Strelczenie, said: “Prohibiting the use of a building in this way is always a last resort and we are sorry for the disruption and distress this has caused to all those living there. Ultimately though, people’s safety must come first.

“We are reassured by the efforts taken by the responsible persons to resolve matters within the building. The remedial work completed is the minimum required to keep people safe and we will continue to engage with the responsible persons to ensure the remaining issues with the building are effectively resolved.”

The fire service originally served an enforcement notice on Wicker Riverside in December 2020 and continued to engage with the responsible persons since then to ensure the safety issues identified by inspectors were resolved.

SYFR is responsible for enforcing fire safety laws in South Yorkshire. It employs fire safety inspecting officers who carry out fire safety audits. If the inspecting officer identifies any fire safety deficiencies, they have a range of options available to them- including issuing a prohibition notice.

A prohibition notice is a legal notice. Where there is a serious and imminent risk to life fire safety inspecting officers can prohibit or restrict the use of premises. If the premises continues to be used against the prohibition notice, then anyone failing to comply with the notice may be prosecuted.

South Yorkshire’s fire service commits to improvements following national inspection report

South Yorkshire’s fire service says it is has already taken significant steps to improve its service, following publication of a national inspection report

The report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate for Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) identified several areas for improvement- as well as many areas of good practice.

Inspectors said the service is ‘good’ at looking after its people, but needs to improve under the ‘effectiveness’ and ‘efficiency’ inspection categories. The service is rated as ‘good’ in seven out of 11 sub-categories.

Chief Fire Officer Chris Kirby, said: “The report highlights many areas of good practice across the service and we are proud of these positive findings. We are particularly proud to be rated ‘good’ for People- with those we employ our most important and valued asset.

“However, we acknowledge there are also areas for improvement and we will use this report to drive further improvements to our service for the people of South Yorkshire.

“We’ve already addressed several of the areas identified in the report and believe we have made significant improvement since the inspection team visited us last summer.”

Improvements South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue has made since the inspection team visited, include recruiting more on-call firefighters, beginning to overhaul its Occupational Health Unit and delivering more work to implement nationally developed guidance for firefighters.

The report follows an inspection by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) in summer 2022.

It is the second time South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue has been inspected since HMICFRS extended its remit to include inspections of fire and rescue services in 2017.

The inspectorates assesses and reports on the efficiency, effectiveness and people management qualities of the 45 fire and rescue services in England. Services are rated either ‘inadequate’, ‘requires improvement’, ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ under each of these.

Fire service prohibition of Sheffield apartment block to proceed

The planned prohibition of the use of an apartment block in Sheffield is still expected to proceed as planned, due to serious fire safety concerns.

Fire safety inspecting officers from South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue served a prohibition notice on Wicker Riverside on 5 December because previously identified issues with the building had not been resolved and interim measures which had been in place can no longer be considered interim.

The notice comes into force on 31 January- which coincides with the expiry date of a previously served enforcement notice and allows time for residents to find alternative accommodation.

SYFR Assistant Chief Fire Officer Andy Strelczenie, said: “Prohibiting the use of a building in this way is always a last resort, particularly when it will cause so much disruption to those living there. Ultimately though, the safety of the residents must come first. Our hearts go out to all those affected by this horrendous situation, but we simply cannot allow this unsafe situation to continue.

“We’ll continue to work closely with the responsible persons to ensure the matters within the building can be resolved. Responsible persons are now making efforts to remediate issues within the building as quickly as possible and the prohibition notice will be removed as soon as we believe it is safe to do so. But as things stand, we fully expect the notice to come into force on 31 January.

“Alongside Sheffield City Council, we’ve been meeting with residents regularly to help explain what the notice means and to support them in finding alternative accommodation.”

The fire service originally served an enforcement notice on Wicker Riverside in December 2020 and has continued to engage with the responsible persons since then to ensure the safety issues identified by inspectors were resolved- but this has not happened within the timescales set out in the notices.

The issues with the building include its internal fire compartmentation- things designed to stop a fire from spreading throughout a building- and the external cladding.

SYFR is responsible for enforcing fire safety laws in South Yorkshire. It employs fire safety inspecting officers who carry out fire safety audits. If the inspecting officer identifies any fire safety deficiencies, they have a range of options available to them- including issuing a prohibition notice.

A prohibition notice is a legal notice. Where there is a serious and imminent risk to life fire safety inspecting officers can prohibit or restrict the use of premises. If the premises continues to be used against the prohibition notice, then anyone failing to comply with the notice may be prosecuted.