Are you educated in safe emergency evacuation and fire safety risk assessments? Education: A Guide to Fire Safety

Are you educated in safe emergency evacuation and fire safety risk assessments? Education: A Guide to Fire Safety

Managing fire risk within your school and providing an evacuation plan to all staff, pupils and visitors is a legal requirement of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. The key to producing an effective fire safety risk assessment is simple. You must provide clear instructions in relation to the fire evacuation process and enforce good health and safety practise within your establishment, minimising the risk at all times. The risk assessment and evacuation plan must be compliant with current regulations. It must be clearly signposted and updated regularly in relation to the establishment and it's daily routine. If the building has stairs the necessary equipment for transporting persons between stairs must be serviced and available to users in case of an emergency. The dates of service and trained persons on the equipment should also be stated clearly in the evacuation plan. Introduction This guide is for all employers, head teachers, governors, vice-chancellors, occupiers and owners of educational premises and is intended for premises where the main use of the building or part of the building is an educational premises. Stanley are a trusted supplier of mobility evacuation chairs and secure storage solutions for education environments. Our mobility solutions provide smooth and swift stairway descent during an emergency situation for the disabled and persons with mobility impairments. We provide FREE site surveys whereby our team assess the school premises for potential risks, and put forward a plan to utilise storage where needed and a mobility stair climber where stairs are featured. Stanley understand the importance of training people on how best to deal with emergency situations, which is why we offer certificated training on our mobility stair climbers ensuring users are fully compliant when operating the machines in an emergency. What is a fire risk assessment? A fire risk assessment is an organised and methodical look at your premises, the activities carried on there and the likelihood that a fire could start and cause harm to those in and around the premises. The aims of the fire risk assessment are: To identify the fire hazards. To reduce the risk of those hazards causing harm to as low as reasonably practicable. To decide what physical fire precautions and management arrangements are necessary to ensure the safety of people in your premises if a fire does start.

Your fire risk assessment should demonstrate that you have considered the needs of all relevant persons in your establishment, including disabled people and all other mobility impairments. REVIEW 5 steps of fire risk assessment Keep assignment under review Revise where necessary RECORD, PLAN, INFORM, INSTRUCT AND TRAIN IDENTIFY FIRE HAZARDS Record significant finding action taken Prepare an emergency plan Inform and instruct relevant people; co-operate and co-ordinate with others Provide training 5 1 IDENTIFY Sources of ignition Sources of fuel Sources of oxygen 4 2 IDENTIFY PEOPLE AT RISK 3 EVALUATE, REMOVE, REDUCE AND PROTECT FROM RISK IDENTIFY People in and around the premises People especially at risk EVALUATE The risk of a fire occuring The risk of people from fire REMOVE OR REDUCE Fire hazards The risks to people Detection and warning Fire-fighting Escape routes Lighting Signs and notices Maintenance What equipment do you need? The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 states that it s the responsible persons, i.e. building owner or employer, who are in charge for everyone being safely evacuated during an emergency. If you are the responsible person, you must ensure a fire risk assessment is carried out correctly. You will be responsible by law, for meeting the provisions of the Fire Safety Order, enforcing good health and safety practise and make available all necessary safety equipment for transporting disabled persons during the evacuation process. Specialist evacuation equipment from Stanley Mobility can facilitate disabled persons and those with mobility impairments during the evacuation process. Our company also supplies specialist shelving and locker storage which is can be used to utilise storage space where needed and deter trip hazards in messy cloakrooms.

Help for people with special needs As the 'responsible person' for your establishment, you will need to pay particular attention to pupils, students and staff who have special needs, including those with a disability. The Disability Rights Commission estimates that 11 million people in the UK have some form of disability, which means there is a high probability that persons in your school need specialist mobility equipment - in case of a fire. Under the Disability Discrimination Act, 13 it is a legal requirement for businesses to accommodate to those with special needs, this includes safe exit and entrance by the means of ramps, wide door ways and specialist mobility equipment for transporting persons within floors if a lift is not available. Mobility stair climbers are even more important when considering fire safety as lifts must not be used. Emergency evacuation of persons with mobility impairment As the 'responsible person' you must provide a clear exit suitable for the evacuation of everyone likely to be in your premises. This may require additional planning and allocation of staff roles, with appropriate training. Provisions for the emergency evacuation of disabled persons may include evacuation chairs, stairways, evacuation lifts, firefighting lifts, refuges, horizontal evacuation and ramps. Conclusion A fire safety risk assessment and emergency evacuation plan is a required emergency procedure for any business, as part of the Fire Safety Order. It s essential for all businesses to have a building evacuation plan and evaluate the level of risk present to be sure that, when an emergency does arise, everyone is as safeguarded. For a FREE site survey, or advice on storage and training, please contact Stanley today. Tel: 0800 298 2980 Email: sales@stanleyhandling.co.uk

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