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A SURVEY of local councils and fire services by the Local Government Association and the British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association provides an insight into the success so far of the Government’s new policy for sprinklers in schools in England and Wales.
Ministers now expect sprink-lers or other fire suppression systems to be fitted in most new and refurbished school projects, subject to a risk assessment, using the updated guidance BB100: Designing for fire safety in schools.
However, in the survey, carried out in spring 2008, only 33% of local authorities that responded cited imple-mentation of BB100. In addition, only 32% said their council has a formal policy on the installation of sprinklers in schools, while 44% said they have an informal policy.
Some 62% of councils felt the updated BB100 and the government’s new stance made it more likely that sprinklers would be fitted in schools. A further 20% considered that sprinklers are already installed where appropriate.
Most councils said they have reservations about sprinklers because: systems are too difficult to fit retrospectively; their schools do not have the resources to pay for sprinklers; and such systems are too expensive for the benefits they offer.
Fire sprinklers and schools: a survey of fire and rescue services and local authorities, is available from: www.lga.gov.uk/
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