Gemma Kelly
Health and Safety - The Bradford City Football Fire
M3 – The health, safety and security issues that occurred within the Bradford fire were that the stands were wooden and smoking was allowed. As this was allowed, this may be how the fire started. As they were allowed to smoke, a spectator disposed smoking materials, which then set fire. As the stands were wooden, they were damaged, underneath were rubbish that had been there for approximately 20 years which is where the smoking disposal landed; on the rubbish. This then caused it to set fire. If this health and safety issue wasn’t there, the fire may not have started. The security issues that they had within the grounds of the fire may have caused some health and safety issues. This is because the only escape routes the people had was locked because they were gates. They were locked so others couldn’t come into the grounds, but this then meant people had no way of escaping from the fire. This was one of the health and safety issues that occurred. Also, another escape route was blocked so they couldn’t get out. It was blocked with the fires fatalities alongside a narrow corridor so the people couldn’t get past to safety. This is also another health and safety issue. The exit doors were also not accessible to get out as they were locked to prevent unauthorised access when the game had started. This is one of the other health and safety issue because exits were blocked and there was no way of escaping. Another health and safety issue that caused the fire to spread a lot quickly was the issue of the tar roofing. This is a very flammable item and therefore caused the fire to spread a lot quickly which may have been the reason for more deaths as they had no time to get away as it was spreading quickly with them having no way of exiting the football ground because of their security issues. They had too many ways of security that even the fire exits had been blocked, leaving no way for the fans to exit the football ground without losing their life and families. If the football ground was cleaned frequently, there’s a chance the fire may not have even started. The fire started by a cigarette disposal onto the ground, which then fell between the wooden floors, leading to rubbish which had been there for decades. The cigarette disposal fell onto a polystyrene cup, which caused the fire to start and spread amongst the other rubbish which had also been there for decades. They come to say “it was a bonfire waiting for someone to light it for decades”. The fire spread quickly leading it to set fire throughout the whole stadium leaving the fans with no way of getting away, losing their lives. Another health and safety issue that occurred was the fact the stadium hadn’t been cleaned for years, this is then leaving all the rubbish lying around. If the people in charge kept on top of the health and safety issues such as cleaned the stadium on a regularly basis after every match, the rubbish wouldn’t have built up to like it did and therefore the cigarette disposal may not have set fire, as it wouldn’t have had anything to set fire to.
D2 – After this fire had occurred, all the stadiums got shut down until they had been refurnished so that there was then more safety within the stadiums and fires didn’t have a way of starting. After this fire, things were changed to benefit the people who come to watch matches at the stadiums. The stadiums were changed totally so they were not wooden and also didn’t have tar roofs so it weren’t easy to set fire to and not easy for fire to spread if another fire ever occurred. Also, stadiums were then made with seats so that people were to sit down whilst watching the matches instead of pushing and crushing against one another. This then had