(Image: Newsquest)
NEW data shows the region accounted for nearly two thirds of England’s fire enforcement notices issued to factories and warehouses last year.
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) served 72 out of 113 total notices issued nationwide, according to government figures analysed by software firm Noon Elite Ltd.
Ben Noon, founder of Noon Elite, said: "West Yorkshire is the outlier.
"The other 43 fire and rescue authorities served 41 enforcement notices between them.
"West Yorkshire served 72 on its own.
"The figures can't say whether that's more problems in the buildings or a keener fire service, but if you run a factory in Bradford, an audit is far more likely to end in a notice than almost anywhere else in England."
WYFRS also issued 34 of the 75 prohibition notices, the orders that stop a building or part of it being used.
In the year to March 2026, the service audited 237 out of 15,928 known factories and warehouses in its area.
Of those, 188 were found unsatisfactory.
Mr Noon said: "Audits are aimed at the higher-risk sites, so 188 unsatisfactory out of 237 isn't 188 out of every 237 factories in West Yorkshire.
"For most sites, the fire risk assessment the owner commissions is the only inspection there'll ever be."
There were 77 fires recorded at factories, manufacturing sites and warehouses in West Yorkshire during the same period.
Over the past decade, the region has seen 804 such incidents.
The data comes from fire statistics published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on September 2, 2026.
Noon Elite Ltd, based in Tibshelf, Derbyshire, is a one-person company producing an iPad sign-in kiosk for factory receptions with a built-in fire roll call feature.
Mr Noon, a software engineer with 14 years' experience, uses AI tools to support his business operations, relying on artificial intelligence for research, correspondence, and website management.
Figures can be found via this LINK.