FIRE & ELECTRICAL SAFETY
potentially lost in a single year. The financial impact is also concerning, with the average repair bill for a major fire running at £2.9m – some substantial fires can rack up costs of up to £20m.
Many pick up on the point of a major fire. One can get some balance by looking at the Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA) put in place by government as an alternative to insurance for schools. It publishes figures on average size of fire claims over the years that it has been in operation. Many would be surprised to hear that average cost of a fire event within the RPA was £426,365 in the academic year 2022/23. Let that sink in – the average cost of fire events that result in a claim within the RPA is over £425,000. Then think that it was above £350,000 in the preceding two academic years and is forecast to be over £300,000 in the academic year 2023/24.
THE TRUE COSTS
It's clear that fire protection isn't just about saving buildings, it's about protecting our children’s education and our communities. Schools are not only places where children learn, they are community hubs that host events, meetings, and activities that benefit everyone. A fire can disrupt both the school’s operations and also the wider community.
Yet, fewer than one in six newly built schools are being equipped with sprinkler systems. This is a worrying trend, given that the impact from the RPA numbers alone are high and they suggest that schools are more likely to be struck by fire than most other types of buildings.
While many schools are built at low cost, often without truly considering long-term resilience, this short-
sightedness comes with high costs when disaster strikes. When schools are built without sprinklers or other resilience measures, we are essentially gambling on their survival. If we invested appropriately in fire protection from the outset, including sprinklers, we could avoid these disastrous disruptions or at least minimise their impact.
A QUESTION OF PRIORITIES
The questions we need to ask are this: are we investing properly in the long-term resilience of our children's schools, or are we just building as cost-effectively as possible and hoping they will survive the next 30 years without incident? More importantly, is this just a financial question or is it about the impact on those in education when a fire occurs?
The recent statistics should serve as a wake-up call. With more fires occurring in schools and the cost of damage increasing, it’s time to prioritise fire protection as part of any rebuilding or new construction project. The installation of sprinklers could potentially curtail fire outbreaks and significantly reduce the resultant damage, leading to minimal disruption to education. The cost of sprinklers would be a small fraction of the cost and impact wrought by a fire and therefore represent strong value for money over the life of the school properties.
By including sprinklers in the rebuild of our schools, we are not only safeguarding buildings, we are safeguarding education, the heart of our communities, and the future of our children.
www.business-sprinkler-alliance.org
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