Fire Protection Schools North East

10 Jul Fire Protection Schools North East

Fire Protection Schools

One of the main safety procedures in school known to children is fire safety. Each year more than 80,000 UK school children have their learning interrupted due to a fire. From 2006 the regulatory reform on fire safety was introduced, but what exactly are the fire safety requirements in schools?

Fire safety requirements

The fire safety requirements in UK schools are grouped into three different groups; active, passive and fire safety management.

Active fire safety ensures that there are efficient systems in place that can detect a fire. This initial detection can be a huge difference in the outcome of a fire, so ensuring that there are working alarms and sprinkler systems is necessary in ensuring the pupils are able to follow evacuation plans and get to safety as quickly as possible.

Passive fire safety involves the installation of fire safety components before an incident is to occur. A great example of this is fire resistant doors that break a large building like a school into smaller compartments that aids the control of the fire. This can minimise the damage caused if a fire were to occur and allow education to resume as normal as quickly as possible.

The fire safety management is the plan that the school has to keep all staff and students as safe as possible. This involves evacuation plans, fire safety training for staff and ensuring that all alarms are efficiently working.

A responsible person

Each education facility should have one trained staff member that is the ‘responsible person’. The responsibilities of this person include;

• Keeping all fire doors shut when not in use
• Regularly check the fire alarms systems within the school
• Keep regular checks on a risk assessment in relation to fire safety
• Ensure that the premises has effective equipment such as fire extinguishers
• Appoint appropriate staff to help pit during drills
• Reduce any flammable or dangerous substances