Tom Roche, Secretary of the Business Sprinkler Alliance With the summer term drawing to a close and many schools deep into exams, fire safety is rarely top of mind. Yet a run of recent incidents is a reminder that risk…
Why fire safety should be a primary concern for schools
To protect pupils, staff and visitors, schools must adhere to stringent fire safety regulations. And with fire safety design standards under the spotlight, Karen Trigg of Allegion UK recalls the necessity of ongoing assessments and maintenance periods within school buildings.…
Another school fire and more disruption to children’s education
By Iain Cox, Chair of the Business Sprinkler Alliance Less than two weeks into the new school term and a primary school in Wiltshire has suffered a major fire. Following 18 months of pandemic disruption, students at the school near…
The UK government is sharing misleading figures on fires in schools
A recent blog written by the Department for Education (DfE) highlighted some key points about fire safety in schools. While the article stressed the importance of ensuring all students and staff are safe at school, the author made some interesting…
Industry bodies unite to condemn DfE school fire safety proposals
A coalition of 23 industry bodies representing hundreds of thousands of teachers, firefighters, surveyors, architects, insurers and engineers, has accused the government of creating a fire safety ‘lottery’ in schools. In a letter to the Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, the…
Fire disrupts education at Lancashire primary school
With the pandemic continuing to cause disruption for children, families and schools, a major fire at an unsprinklered Lancashire school has led to its closure and further disruption to students’ education in the run up to the summer holidays. The…
Why do schools lack fire protection such as sprinklers?
The upheaval in education due to the pandemic in the past year has only highlighted how damaging the closure of schools has been and the legacy of lost learning. Further unnecessary interruption to education should be avoided, not least when…
More than 1,100 classrooms gutted by school blazes in five years
School fires have destroyed the equivalent of 1,100 classrooms in the last five years, new figures reveal. Fire crews have been called to tackle 2,300 school blazes in England, which completely gutted 47 primary and secondary school buildings, and seriously…