Safety Pupil Referral Unit

[Sheannjam]

I work in a small school for 25 13-16 yr old pupils with challenging behaviour. The building is single story approx 200 m2 with large opening windows in all rooms. All pupils and staff are able bodied. There is 1 fire exit door in an area leading onto a yard area. This area is closely monitored. Two other exits can be used as fire escapes however for safety and security they have coded locks that need to be opened by staff. When students are in these areas staff are always nearby and available to open these doors if needed. This is detailed on our risk assessment and staff are trained on fire evacuation procedures. One of the doors leads also to the staff toilet and tea point and so is used regularly on a daily basis by staff and the other is the entrance door again which is used regularly by staff to enter and exit the building. The reasoning for the door locks is that there is a high risk of pupils either absconding or opening a door to allow an unauthorised person into the building. The risk of fire is low - there is no source of ignition or fuel in these areas and no increased source of oxygen. The area is regularly patrolled and so the opportunity for time for a fire to take hold is limited. The risk assessment seems that the risk of a child coming to harm from absconding or allowing access to the building wishing to do harm to another pupil is greater than the risk of fire. The fire reform act says fire escapes need to be opened by anyone needing to use them. Does this mean each person needs to be able to personally open them or is it enough that someone is guaranteed to be able to open it for them?

[AnthonyB]

I've come across this before - are sprinklers installed (every PRU or similar I've assessed has been)? Are the correct legal Deprivation of Liberty arrangements in place to allow additional security measures? Is there automatic detection everywhere?

In these situations it's usually allowed to have less of the escape failsafe's than a standard school.