Legal News

Celebrity hairdresser Daniel Hersheson was ordered to pay £40,000 in fines and costs after his West End hair salon was found guilty of breaching fire safety laws.

In a fire incident at the salon in Conduit Street, London in May 2009 a member of staff was badly burnt when candles in the shop, which were being used to create atmosphere, lit her skirt. Prosecution followed.

The member of staff was taken to hospital where she was found to have suffered third degree burns.

London Fire Brigade was not called to the fire but they attended the salon a few days after the incident to conduct a fire safety inspection.
Rudan Ltd, trading as Daniel Hersheson, pleaded guilty to two offences under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, failure to assess and provide staff with adequate and regular safety training required for fire accidents. The company was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday 18 September, paying a £10,000 fine for each offence and £20,000 in costs.
London Fire Brigade’s deputy assistant commissioner for fire safety regulation, Lee Phillpotts, said business owners were responsible for ensuring that both the public and their employees were safe from the risk of fire under the fire safety law. The verdict was a clear message that if these responsibilities were ignored the department would not hesitate to prosecute and impose serious penalties.
He gave advise on how to be careful when dealing with candles and the care that needed to be taken while using them especially not leaving them unattended and keeping them from a safe distance from any flammable materials.
A statement issued on behalf of Rudan Ltd said the company and its management were deeply regretting the accident when a very valuable employee who wished to remain anonymous, sustained burns in the incident.
The company co-operated fully with the subsequent investigation by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and acknowledged the deficiencies in its fire safety measures at the very earliest opportunity.
In addition, the company swiftly remedied the identified failings and took other measures to learn from the accident and to do all that it could to avoid anything similar ever happening again.”