Food company fined after disabling alarms discovered in 2017 blaze
One of Australia’s largest food manufacturers has been fined $176,610 after firefighters found its Queensland factory had been deactivating multiple smoke alarms in the wake of a fire in 2017.
The discovery led to an investigation that was sparked after the George Weston Foods factory in Capalaba was engulfed in flames in the early hours of the morning on September 28 two years ago.
Firefighters responding to the blaze found multiple smoke detectors had been switched off, with the fire causing $2.5 million in damage.
George Weston Foods pleaded guilty at Cleveland Magistrates Court on Wednesday to 28 charges of failing to maintain a prescribed fire safety installation to an acceptable standard in the event of a fire.
Staff were deactivate sections of fire alarms at the factory to avoid triggering them during daily steam cleaning activities during July 2017 and January 2018.
QFES compliance and prosecution manager Mark Halverson said the absence of working fire alarms in the section of the building where the fire ignited had caused it to spread before being detected.
“A smoke detector in a separate room sounded, but this was some distance from the incident and therefore led to a delay in firefighters responding," he said.
“Thankfully no-one was inside the building at the time, but this delay could have had potentially fatal consequences if staff were present when the fire occurred.”
Mr Halverson said investigators uncovered 142 instances where alarms were turned off in different areas of the factory.
“Some alarms were turned off for more than 10 hours at a time, with the longest deactivation lasting for three days.”
George Weston Foods did not respond to questions by Brisbane Times about how the company had made changes to their protocols or how they felt about the case.
However, a spokeswoman said they were "taking the matter seriously".
"We have been cooperating with QFES to ensure compliance, and the business has put in place measures to ensure this does not happen again," she said.
QFES Commissioner Katarina Carroll said the ruling sent a strong message to businesses about the importance of fire detection and alarm systems.
“Installing and maintaining fire detection and alarm systems is not a choice for businesses, it’s a necessity,” she said.
“QFES is always willing to work with businesses that experience issues, but we will not tolerate flagrant and sustained breaches.”
“It is not worth endangering your staff, patrons, and of course, our firefighters, just for the sake of convenience."