Grenfell fire risk assessor who was paid £250k for his work urged council to bury his fire risk report
Independent
Kenza Bryan
02 July 2017
A damaged facade of Grenfell tower following the catastrophe in north Kensington Reuters
A fire risk assessor who worked on Grenfell Tower reportedly suggested
Kensington and Chelsea council could withhold a report detailing the
building’s safety failings from the London Fire Brigade.
Fire consultant Carl Stokes was paid £244,318 over seven years as fire
risk assessor for Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation
(KCTMO), according to documents seen by Inside Housing.
And Mr Stokes advised the organisation that they did not have to
disclose safety risks and risk being obliged to deploy expensive
“additional fire safety measures”, the Mail on Sunday reported.
A Fire Risk Assessment for Grenfell Tower submitted by Mr Stokes to
KCTMO in November 2012 suggested burying the report because the London
Fire Brigade “have the power to undertake an audit of the fire risk
assessment to determine if it is suitable and sufficient or not.”
The safety failings outlined in the report include the failure to
maintain or inspect escape staircases, fire extinguishers and emergency
escape lighting.
“The fire extinguisher in the basement boiler room, the lift motor
room, the ground-floor electrical room plus other areas were out of
date, according to the contractor’s label on the extinguishers,” the
report reads.
“Some located in the roof level areas [of Grenfell Tower] had
“condemned” written on them in large black writing, with a last test
date of 2009 or 2010.
“This seems to indicate that monthly occupier inspects are not being carried out."
KCTMO was paid £11 million by the council in 2016 to manage 10,000 homes in the borough, including Grenfell tower.
Documents obtained by The Mail on Sunday reveal that in 2010, KCTMO
wanted to hire a consultant who was willing to take on fire regulators
over their demands.
Mr Stokes was recommended to KCTMO directors by housing official Janice
Wray as “willing to challenge the fire brigade on our behalf if he
considered their [safety] requirements to be excessive.”
Mr Stokes is the director and sole shareholder of CS Stokes and Associates Ltd.
A spokesman for the company gave the following comment to Inside
Housing, who first obtained the report: “CS Stokes and Associates Ltd
is confident that its fire risk assessment work was carried out to the
highest professional standards.
“Director Carl Stokes has 19 years’ fire safety experience with local
Fire Authorities, in enforcement and auditing roles and eight years as
an independent fire risk assessor and fully stands by the
recommendations made in his risk assessments.”
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