Schools & Special Needs Schools

Schools are a specific sector that has inherent risks attached to them, from a high level of arson reports particularly during close down such as school holidays, or even during the current lock down from the Covid 19 outbreak, to the specific age of pupils attending and their behavioural patterns. In addition, there is also alongside life risks the need to protect the property and in particular its contents.

When children have worked hard during their academic years, producing works of art and fantastic academic material, this is a disaster if all lost in a fire with the amount of effort put in, so we consider this as part of the strategy we adopt for educational establishments.

There are also many older type buildings spread across the UK, from prefabricated CLASP type porta cabin buildings with their own inherent risks to the added requirements for special needs schools, especially where boarding or sleeping accommodation is provided.

sOur very experienced fire risk assessors have many years in dealing with a range and type of school, both with and without sleeping accommodation, so we are well placed to help and support you. We offer a comprehensive service to all types of school and the diversification in residents and pupils.

So, when we visit your site we will always find out about the type of pupil and specific needs of your buildings so that we do not over or under provide your fire safety requirements.

High usage areas between classrooms, corridor fire doors and heavy self-closers making it difficult to open when students have a hand full of paperwork are considered. We look at the workings of the building and understand how it is used day today so that we do not create a difficult environment for moving around the building.

Schools that have a sleeping risk can also be a challenging environment for the fire risk assessor, we will always look to provide practical solutions to ensure that the fire safety requirements are ‘suitable and sufficient’ but also workable.

We are keen to also support the spread the cost of any fire precautions work you may require, we have worked with the local fire and rescue services and have agreed on numerous occasions to have work completed on a rolling programme spread over an agreed time period, this always helps with annual budgets and CAPEX spending.

We have negotiated with the fire and rescue services and have been successful on many occasions in getting fire safety work extended over a longer period to help with cash flow.