The National Education Union and the Fire Brigades Union have
today written to the Secretary of State for Education, , about the schools being
rebuilt without fire sprinklers.
Barely six months after the Government caved in to pressure from
the National Education Union and the Fire Brigades Union not to
weaken fire protection arrangements for schools, it appears that
it is merely paying lip service to its own advice, allowing it to
be routinely flouted in the rush to build new schools as cheaply
as possible.
Building Bulletin 100: Design for Fire Safety in
Schools [1] (page 12) is clear that all new schools
should have sprinklers fitted, “except in a few low risk
schools”. It would appear that the definition of “a few low risk
schools” encompasses Selsey Academy in West Sussex, which burned
down in 2016 and, inexplicably, is being re-built without
sprinkler systems fitted. This is not an isolated case.
The school at the base of Grenfell Tower (Kensington Aldridge
Academy), built in 2014, does not have a sprinkler fitted.
We would question how a large multi-storey secondary school in
central London could possibly have been assessed as one of “a few
low risk schools”. None of the 35 Croydon school building
projects since 2012 were fitted with sprinklers.
Thirty-two new schools are due to be constructed in
Northamptonshire, without sprinkler-systems fitted, despite the
clear “expectation” that this should happen. It is
inconceivable that all these schools are “low risk”.
In fact, since 2010 only 35% of new schools have been fitted with
sprinklers. [2]
Sprinklers not only save lives but they reduce rebuild costs and
time, mean less disruption for children and staff, and reduce
risks to firefighters.
New school buildings in Scotland and Wales, whether or not they
are replacements for those burned down, are required to have
sprinklers fitted. Today we are calling upon to ensure that staff, children
and fire fighters are offered the same protection, in terms of
life and property, wherever they live in the UK. This
shouldn’t be too much to ask.
Andy Dark, Assistant General Secretary of the Fire
Brigades Union, said:
“The Government’s attitude toward fire safety is shockingly
cavalier. Sprinklers play an important role in preventing the
growth of fire, limiting damage to buildings and saving
lives.
The cost of fitting sprinklers represents a very low investment
when weighed against the potential threat to life, the damage to
buildings and the disruption of children’s education if there is
a fire in a school. It is essential that the government act
immediately to make it a legal requirement for sprinklers to be
fitted in all new school buildings.”
Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National
Education Union, said:
"Grenfell Tower should have been a defining moment in the way we
view safety in public buildings but it seems that health and
safety is still seen as an opportunity to cut corners and save
money. The same protections which apply across Wales and
Scotland should cover England too. It’s clear that the only
way forward is for the ‘expectation’ that sprinklers be fitted to
new school buildings to become a legal requirement.
Otherwise the policy will continue to be flouted."
ENDS
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/276389/buildingbulletin100_onlineversion.pdf
[2] Westminster Hall debate on Fire Safety: School Buildings -
Oct 22 2015’
