Inquiry hears 'management failing' led to deaths of guests in Cameron House fire
dailyrecord.co.ukA “management failing” appears to have led to the tragic deaths of two guests at Cameron House Hotel, an inquiry has heard.Resort director Andy Roger gave evidence at Fatal Accident Inquiry into the deaths of Simon Midgley, 32, and Richard Dyson, 38.The couple died on December 18, 2017 after a blaze – caused by a night porter disposing ash in a cupboard – swept through the five-star hotel on the banks of Loch Lomond.More than 200 guests were evacuated after the alarm was raised at around 6.30am.The inquiry at Paisley Sheriff Court has previously been told how there was no written procedure instructing staff how to empty ash from the building’s open fires – despite fire risk assessors recommending there should have been.The inquiry has heard workers were ‘left to their own devices’, using various receptacles from ice buckets to chafer dishes to collect ash.Night porter Christopher O’Malley, from Renton, was sentenced to a community payback order last year after causing the blaze by emptying ash and embers into a plastic bag and then put it in a cupboard of kindling and newspapers.Hotel operator Cameron House Resort (Loch Lomond) Ltd was fined £500,000, after admitting failing to take the necessary fire safety measures to ensure the safety of its guests and employees between January 14 2016 and December 18 2017.Addressing Mr Roger, Mark Stewart QC, acting for O’Malley, said the “absence” of a standard operating procedure “left at large staff, who had not been properly trained, to their own devices” in how they cleaned the fireplaces.Mr Roger told the inquiry: “I would say I don’t disagree with the comment about the document and training, but wouldn’t say they were left to their own devices.”The QC then said: “I’m not
Read more on dailyrecord.co.uk
