Fire Safety in Schools
Fire safety in an educational environment is vitally important as the potential for catastrophe is high. Installing and maintaining high-quality fire protection and suppression systems helps protect large numbers of students.
After the increase in school fire incidents over recent years, the task of properly protecting schools is more important than ever. Schools must take necessary safety precautions to protect the students, staff and other people within the building.
Comprehensive risk assessments are required by the 2005 Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order to identify any potential fire threats. Under the RRO, precautions should be put in place when necessary to negate the risk as far as reasonably possible.
With regulation in England and Wales and similar legislation in Scotland, the RRO gives responsibility for all aspects of fire safety to a “responsible person”. This person should have some degree of control and access to the premises, often a head teacher or governor.
How should fire risk be mitigated?
Before looking into the implementation of fire safety systems, a risk assessment should be performed to understand the potential fire hazards that exist within a property.
The fire risk assessment contains a thorough and methodical inspection of the property to identify any activities that may cause a risk to the environment. The fire risk assessment aims to:
- Identify any fire hazards. This can be ignition sources such as electrical devices and combustible items such as fuels.
- Evaluate the risks and identify ways of reducing the risks as much as physically possible.
- Agree on fire precautions to ensure the safety of people in the event of a fire.
A large amount of the information used for a fire risk assessment will originate from staff knowledge of the premises. A complete tour of the location may be needed to systematically assess each risk individually, taking every aspect of the site into consideration, from storage rooms to outdoor areas.
The fire risk assessment should be conducted by a person with appropriate training in fire safety. To find out more about performing fire risk assessments in school environments, get in touch with one of our experienced fire safety experts.
Identify any potential fire risks.
Outline who is at risk.
Risk evaluation and solution.
Staff training and recording.
Evaluation and review.
Following an assessment, the responsible person would need to inform staff about the identified fire risk as well as employ fire safety measures and their maintenance. The fire risk assessment made should be regularly revisited and reviewed. This person should also ensure the students are familiar with the evacuation procedures.
How often should fire risks be reviewed?
To ensure the fire safety equipment remains up-to-date, it is recommended that a fire risk assessment is performed yearly at a minimum, or following any significant change to the environment.
The fire safety systems should also remain current, with regular maintenance.
Fire safety precautions for schools
When evaluating the fire safety procedures of an education environment, there are three main factors that should be considered: Passive fire precautions, active fire precautions and fire safety management.
Passive fire precautions
Aspects of fire protection such as fire doors that delay the spread of fire throughout the premises are included in passive fire precautions. Forming the foundation of all fire safety, passive fire protection systems should divide up the risk from high-risk areas. High-risk areas, such as kitchen areas and storage rooms should be separated with fire doors that offer stronger protection and resistance rating; usually 60-90 minutes.
As a vital part of fire protection, fire doors provide an effective form of fire safety and the spread of fire when maintained correctly. Doors should be checked regularly to ensure that the door is in effective working order. Fire doors that do not close properly are no longer effective.
The training of staff for understanding and compliance with fire protection is vitally important to ensure that fire doors are kept shut and unobstructed. Staff should be encouraged to report fire doors that cannot remain closed and aren’t in proper working condition.
Active fire precautions
Referring to systems that both detect and slow the spread of fire, including:
- Systems providing early warnings for signs of fire such as smoke detectors.
- Manually operated fire suppression systems or fire extinguishers.
- Automated fire suppression systems such as sprinkler systems.
As the only option that both detects and suppresses a fire, sprinkler systems provide an effective fire protection solution. However, they can be difficult to be difficult to install in some older buildings.
In 2019, the London Fire Brigade published that none of the 57 fires it attended had any kind of sprinkler system. They believe that these critical fire suppression systems should be made mandatory in new school builds.
School holidays are an important use for sprinkler systems. Fires in empty unoccupied buildings are particularly threatening as they can cause major damage over a longer period.
Fire safety management
The fire safety management links passive and active fire safety protection. In your fire risk assessment, your responsible person should have outlined emergency procedures for emergencies. Including a detailed evacuation plan, appointed fire marshals and pre-arranged fire drill procedures.
Fire safety procedures should be arranged to ensure the safe evacuation of all people from the building upon hearing the alarm. Further arrangements should be made for those with disabilities to provide assistance and a smooth evacuation process.
An identifiable assembly point should be chosen outside of school premises and easy to count anyone expected to be in the school. Additionally, it is important that the fire marshals search the premises to ensure that everyone is accounted for.
To find out more about fire safety policies in commercial buildings, get in touch with the experts at EFire.
Staff training
In terms of staff training, the RRO states that staff should include sufficient training for discovering a fire or hearing a fire alarm. Some chosen staff should also complete enhanced training for acting as a fire marshal or using fire extinguishers.
As a central part of fire safety, fire drills should be performed at a minimum of once per term and at varying times per day with changing circumstances.
To find out more about performing safety in school environments, get in touch with one of our experienced fire safety experts.
Evacuation management
The responsible person should manage every aspect of evacuation:
- Roll call conducted immediately after assembly.
- Attendance registers and visitor book is effectively stored for when the alarm sounds.
- Assembly should be checked against the attendance records to ensure that everyone is accounted for and no one remains inside the building.
On the first week of the term, any new visitors or staff should be instructed on the fire evacuation procedures and escape routes.
Recording fire safety information
Regarding the evacuation plan, the school should have a well-documented fire safety policy including the following criteria.
- A brief covering current regulations and guidance.
- Fire safety “safety of intent”. The name of the person responsible for fire safety.
- All fire safety arrangements including system maintenance.
- Fire safety policy for staff induction including further training for fire marshal duties.
- Fire evacuation arrangements. Means for calling fire and rescue services.
- Fire marshal's role in the evacuation plan for the evacuation plan.
- Arrangement for people with disabilities.
- Arrangement for signing visitors on and off premises.
Your fire safety policy and risk assessments should be arranged by a person with appropriate training in fire safety. To find out more about performing fire risk assessments in school environments, get in touch with one of our experienced fire safety experts.
