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Laying down the law
Warren Spencer discusses TV character Keith Lard – the overzealous fire safety officer created by
comedian Peter Kay – and why he is still significant today
Peter Kay’s character creation Keith Lard
was first seen on television on 19
January 2000 in “That Peter Kay Thing.”
He later appeared in episode 3 of the first
series of Phoenix Nights in 2001. Keith
Lard is described on Wikipedia as “an
overzealous jobsworth who takes immense
pride in his work raising awareness of fire
safety through training seminars and safety
inspections. He despises people’s apathy
and seemingly ignorant attitude toward fire
safety, often scaring his bored audience
with an air horn”.
“Laugh or burn - take your pick”
What is incredible to me is that this
minor character, whose screen time from
both series totals about 10 minutes, in a
late-night TV series, which has rarely been
repeated, is remembered and quoted by so
many 20 years on. Is it because the Keith
Lard character reflected the industry and
public view that the existing regulatory
framework caused excessive burdens upon
industry and business, such that it required
reform? Just over a year later, in July 2002,
the government published “A Consultation
Paper on Reform of Fire Safety Legislation”
and on 19 April 2004 the office of the
Deputy Prime Minister laid a statement
before Parliament, together with a draft of
the (then) Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety)
Order 2004. The aim of the new legislation
described as being: “to reduce burdens on
business that are caused by the existence of
multiple, overlapping general fire safety
regimes – and consequently overlap of the
responsibilities of enforcing authorities.
“The proposed order would
consolidate and rationalise much existing
fire safety legislation (currently scattered
across a large number of statutes and
secondary legislation) into one order. In
doing so it would reduce the number of
enforcing authorities dealing with general
fire safety matters”.
I’m sure that Mr Kay’s writing did not
prompt a review of the Fire Protection Act
1971, but it is clear from the consultation
paper that fire regulations at that time were
considered to be “burdens on
business”. And reform is what we got, in
the guise of the Regulatory Reform (Fire
Safety) Order 2005 – the FSO.
The question is, has it reduced burdens
on business or has enforcement of the FSO
perpetuated the Keith Lard myth that
those responsible for keeping people safe
from fire are “overzealous jobsworths”?
Did it rationalise the existing fire safety
legislation or, in terms of responsible
persons and persons in control of
premises, did it create further complexity?
Interestingly, the aim was to reduce the
number of enforcing authorities dealing
with general fire safety matters. This seems
ironic today, following the recent
HMICFRS audits of fire authorities in
terms of efficiency and effectiveness, and
in particular in relation to enforcement of
the regulations.
“Smoke kills in seconds, fire kills in
minutes, and there’s no smoke without
fire”
Those involved in the fire safety
industry are still subject to light-hearted
taunting by way of comparison to Keith
Lard. I read a lot of PACE transcripts of
interviews, with suspects being questioned
about potential fire safety breaches, and
that it is still the view of a lot of business
owners and people responsible for the
safety of premises. Take, for example, the
now highly topical guidance put forward in
the Fire Safety in Purpose-Built Blocks of
Flats (paras 19.6 and 19.7) which states:
“Some enforcing authorities and fire risk
assessors have been adopting a
precautionary approach whereby, unless it
can be proven that the standard of
construction is adequate for ‘stay put’, the
assumption should be that it is not. This is
considered unduly pessimistic. Indeed,
such an approach is not justified by
experience or statistical evidence from fires
in blocks of flats…”
Is this not a polite way of saying that fire
enforcement officers are overzealous? I
have been involved in cases where the
legitimate concerns of fire safety officers
have been described as “unreasonable”,
“disproportionate” and ‘unjustified’ by
opposing lawyers and experts.
At the end of the Phoenix Nights
episode starring Keith Lard, Channel 4 and
Mr Kay issued an apology to Mr Keith
Laird, a fire safety officer for Bolton
Council, for any distress caused by the
Lard character leading people to believe
that it was based upon Mr Laird. Channel
4 recognised Mr Laird’s contribution to fire
safety in Bolton and confirmed that his
integrity and professionalism were not in
doubt. The Telegraph said Mr Laird had
pointed out that as well as sharing a similar
name, the character had a moustache like
his own, wore the same luminous yellow
safety jacket and had a penchant for
quoting one of Mr Laird’s favourite sayings.
Mr Laird was paid £10,000 compensation,
half of which he paid to a charity.
What I would say to Mr Laird, is this –
we salute you, you professional, generous
and good-humoured man. And as for the
rest of us, the next time you hear “Here he
is – Keith Lard!”, point out what happened
to the Phoenix Club at the end of series
one. It burned down.
Warren Spencer is fire safety solicitor at
Blackhurst Budd Solicitiors.
www.firesafetylaw.co.uk
Tel:01253 629300
Has
enforcement
of the FSO
perpetuated
the Keith
Lard myth
that those
responsible
for keeping
people safe
from fire are
“overzealous
jobs-worths”?
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