It is found that many school buildings, particularly those that are of age, have poor compartmentation standards due to years of neglect or wear & tear.
Compartmentation & Fire Doors
Many of these structures where constructed at a fast rate, led by the CLASP (Consortium of Local Authorities Special Programmes) method, using modular steel frames which would contain large voids above the false ceiling that can very often run through the whole building. In the instance of a fire, size would increase quickly unchecked within these given voids. This can also be the case with more modern buildings constructed to prevent the spread of fire. Even they can possess poor standards of structural compartmentation and fire rated door sets due to wear and tear.
The fire risk assessor should carry out an inspection of all areas above false ceilings where compartment lines are found. If this given information is not available due to a lack of building plans, then this means areas such as protected staircases, above cross-corridor fire resisting door sets and higher risk areas such as kitchens, science laboratories, design technology departments and plant rooms should be prioritised.
Dependant on the volume of breaches, a full compartmentation survey should be undertaken. With a Consortium of Local Authorities Special Programmes building, this will be extremely difficult, a greater emphasis placed on both prevention of fire as well as evacuation time.
Regular-in house inspections of the fire resisting door sets. It is often found that these are in highly poor condition, the fire risk assessor should inspect a worthwhile sample of the doors, ensuring recommendations within the report where the doors are unlikely to function as per design, due to damage, missing parts, non-fire rated hardware, or general wear and tear. If it is apparent that the scale of faulty door sets demands a full survey, then this is highly recommended.
Alarm Systems
It is often found that automated fire detection is covered over, typically due to the regularity of unwanted fire alarm detection alerts. This can be a result of hidden smoking or occurrences that take place in areas such as the kitchen, design technology departments or science labs.
A Fire risk assessor is recommended not to simply require the removal of the covers but also assist the site in preventing recurrence by giving suitable actions. These recommendations could be installation of different detectors, better working practices and routine inspections of areas considered problematic should also be undertaken.
Fire Extinguishers
Within educational premises, it is often found that fire extinguishers are tampered with. Like fire doors, visual inspections should be undertaken as well as monthly checks recommended by BS 5306-3. It is impractical to keep fire extinguishers in student traffic areas due to the frequent tampering, fire extinguishers should be moved into locked boxes or to staff only areas where trained staff can only access them, and recorded health and safety assessments are recommended where dry powdered extinguishers are retained inside the building.
Emergency Planning
The effectiveness of an evacuation procedure should also be reviewed by full checking of the fire drills; these should be completed at least once per school term. These fire drills must be monitored in order to assess both the speed of the full evacuation plan. What is often missed is the routes taken and (if any should occur) the causes of potential delay. In the event of an evacuation, if all occupants use the same main entrance/exit, then this may result in the drill being considered unsuccessful regardless of the calculated evacuation time. This then raises the question, what would be the case if the fires origin was in or close to this main entrance/exit?
Fire assembly points must also be assessed. Those located in enclosed areas such as playgrounds or fields with no further evacuation routes other than the origin of exit. Other examples include assembly points being positioned in an area of approach for the fire and rescue service. This creating an obvious risk to those in the assembly area as well as delaying the fire and rescue service in their task. It is often seen that the facility will have its assembly point requiring road crossing. This is effective however measures must be in place to control any flow of traffic.
It is important that everyone including staff, students or regular visitors, must be considered.
Impairments and disabilities will affect an individuals ability to evacuate the building in the event of a fire. Lifts are great in day to day activities however these must not be used in the event of a fire. Educational premises inspected may have no Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans in place to highlight these potential risks. Those with permanent mobility issues will likely be considered within the plan however lack of consideration is often given to those with hearing, visual and/ or cognitive impairments. Temporary conditions should also be catered for (broken limbs, temporary physical impairment as this will alter the plan.
Fire Safety Management
Correct management should be undertaken for all fire safety including electrical and gas systems within a building. Anything missing within a report should be noted and clear guidance as to how and frequency of inspections taking place. If the person on site has not had in depth fire management training, a high level of guidance must be given on how to maintain the systems on site that have the role of keeping the building and occupants safe from the event of a fire.
With aged buildings, it is likely that regular planned and unplanned building maintenance work may also be required. An individual or persons on site should be trained in order to be able to monitor any works and give a Hot Work Permit(s) where it is deemed necessary. Any site works that are likely to penetrate elements of structure i.e. cable penetrations, pipe penetrations, its is a case of a policy having to be implemented to ensure that all potential breaches are suitably fire stopped using a appropriate certified contractor. It is vital that building management staff carry out inspections upon these areas once they are completed ensuring contractors have not left any remaining breaches.
Fires within schools are devastating not only the damage to the vital building itself but also to the parents of students. Alternative arrangements for educational provision may be limited.
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