Sprinkler Success Mean Safer Schools

Larry Stokes fcii, Underwriting Manager, Zurich Municipal, celebrates a successful campaign for the inclusion of sprinkler systems in new schools.

After 10 years of campaigning, Zurich Municipal is delighted that new schools will now be built with sprinkler systems.

According to our estimates, the cost of school fires in England, Wales and Scotland totalled £75mn in 2006, with 75 per cent of fires caused by arson. And nearly all of that public money could have been saved if effective sprinkler systems had been installed in UK schools.

In the spring of 2007, schools Minister Jim Knight MP announced that in future the presumption will be that all new schools will be built with sprinkler systems. A great result after a decade-long campaign by Zurich Municipal and other stakeholders.

Quote from Jim Knight MP

"That is why we have taken the view that all but the very low risk schools should have fire sprinklers, which have been proven to be an effective weapon against fires, including those started deliberately. However, we do not intend to make this a compulsory measure for all schools, as the right honourable and learned gentleman anticipated. Although the vast majority of schools will find sprinklers a useful weapon against fire, there are a few, but only a very few, which are at low risk of fire."

What did Zurich Municipal do?

School arson is a terrible waste of public resources. More than that, it disrupts children’s education and wider community activities. Motivated by these problems for many years, and as the leading insurer of schools, we have worked hard to help combat arson. Recently we worked with stakeholders to develop a range of educational materials for schools and fire brigades as part of the award-winning Arson Combated Together (ACT) umbrella. We have also published a free design guide for schools with the aim of encouraging the use of fire-sprinkler systems.

But over the last few years we have been increasingly pushing the government to make the installation of sprinklers in new and refurbished schools mandatory — and for many years this view was not shared by education officials. Twelve months ago the political wind begun to change, so we launched a higher profile campaign, helped by public affairs consultancy AS Biss, to lobby for change. A new schools minister was appointed, Jim Knight MP, who had a background in fire protection, and it was decided to use that opportunity to really push for action. Senior Zurich staff — including Guy Munnoch, Zurich UK Chief Executive — held meetings with the minister and with the officials in the then department for education and skills (DfES).

Zurich Municipal was also well represented in a working group set up to develop a risk assessment tool for schools, and we joined forces with other stakeholders to convince officials of the case for sprinklers.

As well as working with the DfES, we undertook an extensive lobbying campaign of meetings with MPs and other interested stakeholders. We held meetings with MPs who had suffered school fires in their constituencies and other influential figures, such as the chair of the Education Select Committee. All of those we spoke to were supportive and many wrote personal letters to the minister calling for action, while others tabled parliamentary questions asking the DfES why it wouldn’t install sprinklers. We also supported John Penrose MP to draft a parliamentary motion calling on the government to install sprinklers in new schools, which was signed by more than 100 MPs.

Government commitment

All of this activity came to a head in February 2007 when, following a meeting, former conservative leader Michael Howard MP secured a debate in Parliament on sprinklers in schools. This focused on a devastating fire in Lympne Primary school in Mr Howard’s Kent constituency. Unusually, the Lympne fire occurred during the day, and more than 200 pupils and staff had to be evacuated before the building was completely lost. As Mr Howard said: “I live in the village of Lympne and when I visited the school I was shocked by the scale of the destruction. The school hall, where children and staff were attending morning assembly at the time the fire broke out, had totally collapsed. We owe a great debt to the professionalism and prompt actions of staff and the alertness of the child who first spotted the signs of fire. But we cannot presume that that will happen every time.” Kent’s chief fire officer said that if sprinklers had been installed in the building it was very likely that the building could have been saved.

The minister responded more positively than many could have hoped and announced that in future virtually all new schools would have sprinklers installed. As evidence of the support for his new position he cited the parliamentary motion instigated at Zurich Municipal’s suggestion. And in the following weeks the minister’s position became even more welcome as, in answer to a parliamentary question, Jim Knight said: “It is now our presumption that all new schools will have fire sprinklers installed”. This is a presumption that we hope to see sanctioned in the forthcoming report, 'Building Bulletin 100 (BB100): Designing and Managing Against the Risk of Fire in Schools', due for publication imminently after further consultation earlier this year. If this position is supported schools would need to demonstrate against a 'risk tool' of set criteria that sprinklers were not needed as opposed to the case for sprinklers having to be rationalised.

Zurich Municipal success

Following years of dedicated work, effort and campaigning, Zurich Municipal has finally achieved its aim of ensuring that all new schools are built with sprinklers installed. We will be studying the new regulations very closely to ensure that the commitments are implemented and will continue to liaise with MPs and other stakeholders interested in the issue. We’re obviously all delighted with this decision, and very proud of the part that Zurich has played in ensuring a safer and more sustainable learning environment for children in England.

Sprinkler facts

• 75 per cent of school fires are caused by arson
• 65 per cent of all offenders cautioned are aged between 10 and 14
• Approximately 250 schools currently have sprinklers installed
• 2,000 schools a year are damaged by fire
• School fires cost the UK an estimated £74mn in 2006
• There have been no fire deaths in the UK in a building fitted with a fully maintained sprinkler system
• Sprinklers have a proven track record and are 99 per cent effective in controlling fires, normally with fewer than five sprinkler heads operating
• A sprinkler system can significantly reduce school building and insurance costs
• A sprinkler system can reduce building costs on new-build or extension by virtue of a trade-off with partition walls and protection on escape routes
• Reductions in premiums alone can pay for the sprinkler system in 7–10 years.

Biography of Larry Stokes fcii, Underwriting Manager, Zurich Municipal

Larry Stokes has spent most of his working life working in the field of public-sector risk and insurance. Larry was a risk surveyor and risk-improvement manager, before specialising in underwriting. He is currently a public-sector underwriting manager for Zurich Municipal as well as being Chair of the Arson Prevention Bureau Schools Working Group, a member of the Arson Control Forum and various working parties at the Association of British Insurers’.