DESIGNING FOR BETTER FIRE SAFETY IN SCHOOLS

In 2007 the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) published Building Bulletin (BB) 100, “Design for Fire Safety in Schools”. This document provides fire safety design guidance for schools (including nursery schools, primary and secondary schools, including sixth form colleges, academies and city technology colleges, special schools and pupil referral units) in England and Wales.

BB100 includes guidance on complying with Building Regulations (Part B Fire Safety) designing a school building so that pupils and staff will have early warning if a fire breaks out and can evacuate quickly and safely. BB100 advises how to minimise the spread of fire and how to ensure the building structure is adequately resistant to fire. It also includes requirements for access and facilities for the Fire and Rescue Services.

In 2019 the Government carried out a technical review of BB100 in order to ensure that the guidance was kept up to date.

A draft updated version of the guidance has now been published and the government has launched a consultation on the revisions. You can view the updated guidance and respond to the consultation using the Gov.UK website at: https://consult.education.gov.uk/technical-standards/building-bulletin-100/

The consultation runs until 18th August 2021.

Please speak to your normal PIB Risk management contact or get in touch using [email protected] if you have any questions or would like assistance with managing and assessing fire safety risks in your workplace.