The government ignores its own guidance on fitting sprinklers in schools, say unions
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The government was accused of a “shockingly cavalier” to fire safety in schools and ignoring its own guidance on fitting sprinklers yesterday.
Union leaders said it was “incomprehensible” that Selsey Academy in West Sussex, which was almost completely destroyed by a fire in 2016, is set to be rebuilt without sprinklers.
In an open letter to Education Secretary Damian Hinds, the National Education Union (NEU) and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) raise their concerns.
They ask why schools - including one at the base of Grenfell Tower - have been classed as being at too “low risk” to be given fire sprinklers.
The letter follows last year’s devastating fire at Grenfell Tower, in Kensington, west London, which caused 71 deaths.
And the unions accuse the government of “paying lip service” to its own fire safety guidance, and “allowing it to be routinely flouted in the rush to build new schools as cheaply as possible”.
In 2007, a bulletin for fire safety in schools specified that all schools should have sprinklers apart from “a few low risk schools”.
However, the unions warned that only 35% of new schools have been fitted with sprinklers since 2010 and say the decision not to fit sprinklers at Selsey Academy is not “an isolated case.”
Kensington Aldridge Academy, based below Grenfell Tower, built in 2014 also has no sprinkler system and the letter condemns the decision to build 32 new schools in Northamptonshire without sprinkers.
It says: “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’. “
In Scotland and Wales, it is a legal requirement for all new schools to be built with sprinkler systems installed.
Sprinklers save lives, reduce rebuild costs and time, mean less disruption for children and staff, and reduce risks to firefighters, the unions say.
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.”
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.”
A Department for Education spokesman said:”Schools have a range of fire protection measures and new schools undergo an additional check while being designed. Where sprinklers are deemed necessary to keep children safe, they must be installed.
“Schools conduct regular fire drills and can be evacuated within a matter of minutes in the event of a fire. The safety of all pupils and teachers is paramount and all schools should be safe places.”