Fire risk in schools ‘alarmingly’ higher than other buildings

A recent article in the UK Construction Week website highlighted the fact that schools in England pose a significantly higher fire risk than other types of commercial buildings, according to new research by Zurich Municipal.

According to the data, schools in England are nearly twice as likely to be hit by a blaze as other types of commercial buildings.

The data

Zurich analysed the fire risks posed by 26,866 primary and secondary schools in England. It found the average school posed a fire risk 1.7 times greater than non-residential buildings.

When compared to 2.9 million non-household properties, school buildings were also three times more likely to fall into the ‘high’ fire risk category (58% vs 20%).

Data scientists analysed 33,000 fires from the last six years to identify factors that increase the likelihood of a blaze from which they produced a fire risk score.  These factors include listed status, presence of cooking equipment and size of the building itself.

Lacking The Necessary Equipment

Despite being far riskier than average when it comes to fires, many schools also lack the equipment needed to prevent small fires from becoming major disasters.

Of more than 1,000 school inspections carried out by Zurich, 66% were rated as having ‘poor’ fixed fire protection systems, such as sprinklers, which are proven to significantly reduce the damage caused by fire. Just 14% were rated ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.

An additional 24% were judged ‘poor’ for fire detection measures, such as smoke detectors and fire alarms.

Firefighters have been called to nearly 2,000 school blazes in the last three years. Malfunctioning appliances or equipment, faulty electrics, arson and kitchen blazes are among the leading causes of school fires.

Significant Impact

Larger fires in schools cost on average £2.8m to repair and in some cases over £20m.

Bigger and older schools, including those with a canteen, and secondary schools – which have more complex and dangerous equipment – were identified as particularly at risk.

A correlation between poor OFSTED ratings and greater risk of fire was also identified in the analysis.

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