What are the implications of a fire for businesses?

Insurance claims – Who is at fault?

To return to the incident at the start of this document, the question must be asked as to whether the scaffolder in question has to accept any liability for the damage being sustained to the building on which work is taking place. Needless to say, this is a complex area and no categoric conclusions can be drawn simply on the basis of news stories about the fire. All claims of this type require in-depth forensic investigation, and therefore any comments below are merely speculation to highlight the complexity of the issue.

What caused the fire?

This is obviously the first question that should be asked in any incident, and the fire in Leeds City Centre is no different. However, the information available from news sources is patchy, and one is relying on a lot of anecdotal evidence to indicate how the fire began. However, it seems likely that a stray firework caught the sheeting around the building, which in turn caused the fire to start and spread to the building beneath.

If the cause of the incident was a stray firework, it may seem straightforward to suggest that liability rests with a person or persons unknown who happened to let off said firework in the vicinity of the property. However liability claims, as well as prosecutions by the HSE, do not often stop at the ‘primary’ cause of the incident, and they will often look at aggravating factors, negligent omissions and breaches of regulations that could have exacerbated the incident and made damage or injury much more likely. In essence, one is looking at what is known as a ‘but for’ test, which in the most negative construction could be the following: ‘but for’ the lack of certified sheeting around the building, the fire would never have occurred.

Coverage

Clearly, post-Grenfell, all public organisaitons are very mindful of fire safety in buildings and therefore incidents such as the fire in Leeds City Centre are likely to involve close scrutiny of the actions of the scaffolder and their adherence to the required fire safety conditions both within the law and within their insurance policy. As mentioned above, failure to satisfy the policy conditions can lead to a withdrawal of cover by insurers, meaning that a business will be unsupported in dealing with the myriad complex claims that follow a serious incident.

Other factors?

Even if the contractor complied with the terms of their policy, there are still likely to be questions asked about the safety and the ‘reasonableness’ of the sheeting being used. Given that this building was in the central square of Leeds over the period of Bonfire Night, would it seem likely that fireworks could be a hazard? Should the company have employed a fire marshal over this period? Should they have taken the sheeting down completely at this time? These are questions that can not be answered easily, but insurers and the HSE will nonetheless want to see that a business has considered the likely causes of ignition and taken steps to minimise the risks from the same.