Documents released under Freedom of Information requests have revealed that care homes are routinely breaching fire regulations, according to the Guardian (5 July 2011). Hazards included damaged and dangerous equipment, faulty smoke alarms and untrained staff. Together around 4,700 elderly and disabled people are living in the 135 homes.
One particular home, in Southampton, listed 13 serious hazards which included positioning a dining table and chairs so that they blocked the emergency exit and propping open a fire-resisting door with a door stop "shaped as a rabbit".
In 2004, a fire at a care home with a poor safety and training record in south Lanarkshire, Scotland killed 14 residents. An inquiry into the blaze recently reported that the lives of many of the residents could have