Fire Safety in Schools

Since 2018, schools in England have encountered a staggering 2,300 fires.

A Zurich Municipal study calculates that schools are twice as likely to be hit by fires than other buildings. The study has estimated that as many as 390,000 teaching hours could be lost within a year due to fires affecting 28,000 students.

The average costs of repairs is at £2.9 million. For larger fires, costs can reach up to £20 million, pressing the question: Is enough being done for heightened fire safety protocols in school premises?

On November 9, Education Business Focus Fire Safety in Schools brings together field experts to lend their experiences and know-how on how to improve fire safety in your school. It will examine future priorities to help ensure that the pursuit of knowledge remains unhampered by preventable incidents.

Registration is free of charge to those in the education sector.

Agenda

10.30	Welcome & Event Overview Host: Dave Smith, Head Partnerships & Events, British Educational Suppliers Association
10.40	Fire Safety Changes Richard Clark, National Fire Chiefs Council
10.50	Fire Safety Legislation Changes for the Responsible Person Ken Bullock, BAFE Fire Safety Register
11.00	Fire Safety: Shaped by our experiences Tom Roche, British Sprinkler Alliance
11.10	The benefits of Fire Retardant Paint Paul Letch, Director, Thermoguard
11.30	Live Q&A session including interactive polls - Submit your questions to the panel
12.00	Event Roundup & Close Dave Smith

Event timings and speakers are subject to change

Speakers

Dave Smith

Head of Partnerships and Events, British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA)
Dave joined BESA to lead on EdTech, including steering the content of BESA’s highly successful conferences and events. He is also a current school governor with a keen eye for sustainability issues, and as a former school inspector / EdTech adviser with an interest in sustainability, building projects (experience in Primary Capital Programme and Building Schools for the Future) and the role of technology and energy efficiency, Dave is a proven sustainability champion.

Richard Clark MSc

Senior Fire Engineer, National Fire Chiefs Council
Richard’s career in fire started over 20 years ago as a firefighter in the London Fire Brigade. After 3 years he moved into fire safety regulation with South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue where he held a variety of roles over 13 years. He currently works with the National Fire Chiefs Council as a Senior Fire Engineer with the Protection Reform Unit, which represents the voice of the fire service within the current changes in building safety regulation

Tom Roche

Secretary, British Sprinkler Alliance
Tom Roche is the Secretary of the Business Sprinkler Alliance. He is active within the fire sector promoting the use of automatic fire suppression through his work with the Business Sprinkler Alliance. Tom’s background in fire safety comes from 30 years spent working in the world of loss prevention engineering with FM Global, one of the world’s largest commercial property insurers. He has travelled extensively to support clients across the world to establish loss prevention policies and implement risk strategies all aimed at improving the resilience of their businesses to property risks.

Ken Bullock

Technical Schemes and Assurance Manager – BAFE Fire Safety Register
Ken is a well-known and respected individual within the fire safety industry and has over 35 years of experience in which time he has been involved in bringing new technologies to the industry.

Paul Letch

Technical Director & Founder, Thermoguard
Over the years, Paul Letch has created various paint products, with the latest having the ability to give surfaces protection against some viruses. Having held high level positions at Berger, Cuprinol and JW Bollom, Paul went on to form two fire paint companies to supply and safeguard Scottish, NW & NE merchants, painting contractors and their clients from the pitfalls and risks obscured by corporate marketing.

Partners

British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA)

The British Educational Suppliers Association has an 90-year heritage serving the UK education sector, and represents over 400 educational suppliers in the UK, including manufacturers and distributors of equipment, materials, books, consumables, furniture, technology, ICT hardware and EdTech to the education market.