Guidance
Practical fire safety and health and safety guidance, taken from the newsletter we send to the schools we support.
- Fire doors in schools: why they only work closedFire Door Safety Week ran from 21 to 25 September under the line check it, close it. It is the whole job in three words.
- School heating, gas safety and plant rooms before winterThe system has stood idle since spring, and the plant room has probably been used for something else since then.
- School water hygiene: when cold water will not stay below 20 degreesSix weeks of warm, still water is the one thing legionella needs. Reopening well takes an afternoon and a written record.
- Lithium battery fire risks in schoolsFires linked to lithium batteries have more than doubled in three years. The controls that work in a school are mostly about where charging happens.
- Rooftop solar panels and fire risk on school buildingsA rooftop array is an electrical installation that cannot be switched off in daylight, sitting above occupied classrooms.
- Benedict's Law and Martyn's Law: what schools need to doBenedict's Law applies from September 2026. Martyn's Law arrives in spring 2027 and every school already has its tier.
- Managing contractors in schools over the summerSeveral trades, no pupils, and usually one person holding the keys. The summer is the month where it pays to be clear who is in charge of what.
- Hot works and roof fires on school buildingsHot works cause school fires in August year after year, and they nearly always start after the work has finished for the day.
- Asbestos in schools: what to check before anyone drills a wallMost school buildings put up before 2000 contain asbestos. The summer is when it gets disturbed, and HSE is inspecting schools on exactly this.
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