Property developer tried to get away with "inherently dangerous" rope ladder fire escape because he preferred the way it "looked"
A Surrey property developer had the “incredulous and inherently dangerous” plan of installing a rope ladder, and then have people jump down onto a sloped roof, rather than put in a proper fire escape because he “liked” the way it made his house look.
Anatoly Belnik was told by Surrey Heath Borough Council’s building safety team it was desperately unsafe but, undeterred, he took his case to tribunal who unsurprisingly dismissed the appeal.
Mr Belnik had tried to argue the deployable ladders and short jumps to a sloping roof was an acceptable and safe means of escape from the Laurels property in, Salisbury Terrace, Mytchett.
Hearing the case was Regional Judge Whitney who was told by the Health and Safety Executive that Belnik’s preferred option “was not a suitable escape route” and that the “use of the metal rope ladders was in his opinion highly unreliable”.
The property is self-contained semi-detached house. The ground floor is almost entirely open plan with the staircase leading off the kitchen/living room. There are two storeys above. At the top a bedroom built within the roof with windows.
Writing his judgement, Judge Whitney said: “We consider the method of escape to be improbable and inherently dangerous.
“To suggest that, in an emergency, climbing from a third storey window, affixing a rope ladder and climbing or jumping on to a pitched tiled roof and then jumping or using a second rope ladder to reach the ground to be a safe system we find incredulous.
“To suggest jumping or climbing on to a pitched tiled roof in an emergency situation produced a safe system of escape is not sustainable in our judgment.
“We heard no evidence as to why there could not have been compartmentalisation for the staircase or other measures.
“It appears this was because the applicant simply preferred this “look” for the property. It seemed to us that Mr Belnik had given no proper consideration beyond his proposed solution which was cheap and impractical.
“It did not meet the functional standards in the building regulations in our judgment.”
The injunction obtained by Surrey Heath Borough Council against Mr Belnik remains valid and the stop notice continues to apply.