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NEITTech

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  1. I believe the academy trust pays a local firm to do it. I haven't seen the risk assessment, and I don't know if I'll actually be able to get access to it, but like I said I have seen the list of defects that was reported back to the individual school headteachers and there was no mention of signage this year (and I'm assuming previous years given that there doesn't appear to be any in place!) I'm going back soon to do a few informal focussed audits and one of the areas I'll be looking at will be fire safety so I will pay more attention.
  2. Regarding cost of electricity, it's not even worth thinking about. They will probably be 2 or 3W LED units. At a combined wattage of 8W, the units will cost around £11/year. They could save a life, that's why they are required.
  3. I'm aware of our school's legal responsibilities with regards fire wardens during my school's normal operation. We are looking into letting out our pool in evenings, weekends and school holidays to external companies and groups (no access to rest of the school building). What legal responsibilities do we have? Does there have to be a fire warden? If yes, does it have to be a school member of staff, or can it be someone from the external company? Can we simply state in the letting agreement that the external company is responsible for all fire safety. Does that indemnify us? What about school-operated after school clubs and holiday clubs? Does a school fire warden need to be present at all times? Thanks in advance.
  4. Metal lockers (wardrobe type) would probably meet your requirements. I suppose it makes sense really, it's not uncommon for phone batteries and vapes to combust for no apparent reason, both of which are likely to be kept in coat pockets.
  5. I use Microsoft Visio. It's not free though.
  6. He is the local station manager, separate from the fire safety people based at headquarters. His badge said fire investigation as well. His visit counted as our three-yearly fire safety audit though. He did say that he is the only person that could prosecute the school, and he wouldn't consider it because we've showed more than enough due care for both staff and pupils. He was actually quite impressed! Like I said, we're still going to go 'above and beyond' and do a walkaround with the lady and make improvements where necessary.
  7. Just an update on this. I've just had the local fire station manager/fire safety inspector out for a visit and tour of the school. In his opinion, we are fine because the school is sweeped during evacuation anyway. He said there is no need for a Deaf Alert system, there's no need for VADs and he wouldn't consider upgrading the existing detectors/sounders to cover 'quieter' areas but if we still want to we can. He also suggested that giving her a mobile phone set to vibrate which someone rings when the alarm is activated would be further mitigation but again its not necessary. What we decided we're going to do before he even visited is go around with the member of staff with the HI and see in which areas she can't hear the alarm, and make a note of the decibel level. We'll then look to see what solution we can put in place for those areas, eg. replace an old detector only unit with an s-quad so the alarm is louder in the room in question. He said we're well above what is legally necessary. For example, he would be fine with not having detectors in most of the classrooms as long as they are in the corridors, but we have detectors everywhere. If he's happy, I'm happy.
  8. Yes, she should have had a PEEP years ago but it was never done. She will be getting one in September, but the reason I have asked for advice is so we can actually do her one. Regarding the buddy system, she works alone. Obviously she comes into contact with other members of staff in school but she doesn't work in one place and spends most of her working day alone carrying out her duties, roaming around the school. She spends a lot of time in the staff room and the store cupboard located within it, and it not uncommon for this room to be empty apart from her for the best part of an hour. In my mind we have a few options: upgrade the existing older detector-only units to those that include lights and sounders (this is my preferred option because I would like to see all the existing beacons reactivated anyway and all the old detectors are due to be replaced in the next few years anyway - s-quad devices would be an ideal replacement) purchase the Deaf Alert system purchase another sort of alert device (vibrating pillow etc) and try to adapt it for use in school
  9. Thanks for all the replies. Regarding the flashing beacons, half the school has old style alarms, and the other half has newer multifunction alarm/detectors (S-quad). Unfortunately we had to get the flashing beacons turned off because we are a special needs school with a high number of epileptic pupils. When asked, our fire alarm maintenance company couldn't prove that they are safe to use and so the headteacher instructed them to disable the beacons.
  10. We have a member of staff in school who is severely hearing impaired (not sure if legally classed as deaf). There have been three instances in the last two years where she has not heard the fire alarm during fire drills. Each time a member of staff has found her completely unaware of the, sometimes, unbearably loud alarms. She works alone as a sort of general assistant (cleaning, doing odd-jobs), so she is not often in classrooms. I have been asked to investigate possible solutions, so I asked for a quote from the company that maintains our fire alarm. Their recommendation is a Deaf Alerter system, at a total of nearly £9000 for the system and necessary integration works. The senior management say that this is too much, especailly as the member of staff only works 4 hours a day in a not-far-off minimum wage role. I have reminded them of the relevant equalities legislation but its simply not going to happen, the money isn't available. They have suggested that she could be issued with a spare mobile phone set on vibrate that she collects from the Reception when she starts work and hands in when she finishes work. I immediately saw multiple problems with this solution, namely that someone would have the repsonsibility of calling the phone when there is a fire (what if they forget, or are involved in the fire?), she might not notice the phone vibration if she is walking or whatever, the local mast might be down so she might not have signal (half the school has poor signal anyway), there's loads of holes in their plan. Can anyone recommend a cheaper solution? We have a Gent Vigilon alarm system. Thanks in advance.
  11. Is there anywhere to purchase single legends rather than in packs of 5 or ten? I literally only need 2 up and 1 right self-adhesive legend that can be stuck onto bulkhead lights. The ones I found on a competitors website don't appear to let light through, the guy I spoke to said he wouldn't use them for sticking onto lights...
  12. What sort of training are they asking for? You can deliver basic 'fire safety/awareness' training if you have completed a Competent Person course. This is generally a full day course at your local Fire Service HQ and costs a couple hundred pounds. They're generally aimed at school/residential home staff but not necessarily. It's essentially the same as a fire warden course but with extra training for delivering staff training and carrying out risk assessments. I don't believe you can deliver live fire simulations though.
  13. Thanks Anthony, I'll stop looking for the arrowless sign!
  14. I'm not sure how those replacement fascias would work though. The current signs aren't just stuck on, they are actual plastic inserts. Some of the units are quite old and the manufacturers say they don't have any replacements. Even ones that were purchased only a couple of years ago aren't available. If i stuck these new vinly fascias over the the old ones, wouldn't you still be able to see them? With regards to the final exit signs and arrows, is what is said on this thread incorrect? Thanks.
  15. In our school we currently have all Euro signage (apart from two new external classrooms that have a single British sign each). Ideally we'd be using the British standard but it isn't possible to swap out the signage on our emergency lighting units, so we're sticking with the Euro standard until we're told they have to be changed. I've noticed a lot of the signs around school use down arrows, both for final exit signs and for straight on. My understanding is that straight on should be an up arrow and final exit signs should not have an arrow on. Is that correct? I'm having difficulty finding Euro signs with no arrows on. I can change some of the signage because they are just photoluminescent plastic but some of the incorrect signage is maintained and can't be swapped without replacing the whole unit. It would be very expensive just to change the direction of some arrows. Would this be acceptable or even noticed by our fire service when they audit us in a couple of months? Thanks in advance.
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