Printing roll call registers

[Guest Treeman]

I am seeking some advice regarding  fire drills in a secondary school

Current practice is:

Alarm sounds

Teachers lead students out of classes to assembly points

All other staff evacuate immediately

Except for attendance officer who stays put to print out 32 form group registers. These are then circulated to form group teachers to take roll call.

My contention is that it is a great risk for the attendance officer NOT to be able to immediately evacuate. It typically will take a minimum of 5 mins for the registers to print.

I would greatly appreciate expert advice as to whether this practice is safe and in line with best practice in other schools.

[Tom Sutton]

I do not know if your procedure is in line with best practice in other schools but the attendance officer taking more than 5 mins before he/she can evacuate is not ideal. I see two problems the first is the location of the printer which places the attendance officer in a vulnerable situation and what happens if the room the printer is in is involved in fire.

I would be having words with your friends in the computer department and maybe considering portable printers or an intranet with the latest registers downloaded onto it, and giving access to the staff that needs it, they maybe able to come up with better solutions.