Lango Standard Fire Safety Checklist for Kenyan Schools Dormitories.

Author Reference

Lango, B. (2017). Lango Standard Fire Safety Checklist for Kenyan Schools Dormitories.  Intel Fire Group of Companies Blog. Nairobi, Kenya. September 24, 2017.

 

Kenyan schools fires that are experienced majorly when nearing major examinations and during the same examinations remains a puzzle that the school managers and administrators are yet to explain and solved. The year 2017 as the schools are nearing towards major national examinations coupled with politicking, many have experienced grave fires that have consumed lives and massive properties. The ministry of education in April 2008 developed the famous document “Standards Safety Manual for Schools in Kenya” but the document which is a 78-page requires expertise in the field of safety in order to attain full implementation in schools. For example, the standard requires every school management committee or Board of Governors to constitute a sub-committee to deal with School Safety. It is the membership of this sub-committee that determines the direction of the safety service delivery within the school and it is important to have an expert in safety on the sub-committee.

The standards under section 1 (5.1) in page 12 give the list of members as follows:

1.       Chair, School Management Committee/ Board of Governors – Chairperson

2.       Head Teacher – Secretary

3.       The Deputy Head Teacher – Member

4.       Teacher in-charge of School Safety – Member

5.       Guidance and Counselling Teacher – Member

6.       Teachers Union representative (in the School) – Member

7.       An Ex-officio from AEO’s Office – Member

8.       A representative of the Crisis Response Team (CRT)

9.       Two other members of the School Management Committee/Board of Governors

These membership above will determine how safe a school is and the onus of major responsibilities being heaped on the head teacher and the teacher-in-charge of school safety. As the teacher in-charge of school safety one of the responsibilities is “identifying the potential safety hazards in the school with a view to taking corrective measures, either directly or through the committee”. The teacher in-charge therefore must focus on the 13 key areas that are of interest in the standards safety manual which includes: safety on school grounds; safety in physical infrastructure; health & hygiene safety; safety in school environment; food safety; safety against drugs and substance abuse; safe teaching and learning environment; socio-cultural environment of the school; safety of children with special needs/disabilities; safety against child abuse; transportation safety; disaster risk reduction; and school community relations.

The school dormitories which fall under safety of physical infrastructures should have a standard checklist that enables the teacher in-charge of school safety to undertake unprecedented inspection of the facility and review safety requirements for the same for implementation and improvement purposes. The following therefore gives a recommended standard fire safety checklist for Kenyan schools dormitories:

No.	Standard Requirement	Check	Observations
1.	Spacing between beds within the dormitory is at least 1.2meters
2.	Spacing along the pathway/ corridor within the dormitory is at least 2 meters wide
3.	The dormitory doorways are at least 5 feet wide
4.	The dormitory doorways open in the direction of exit i.e. outwards
5.	The dormitory have a door at each end and one door at the middle labelled EMERGENCY DOOR
6.	The dormitories are not locked from outside when learners are inside
7.	The dormitory are locked at all times when learners are in class
8.	Copies of the dormitory keys are kept by the dormitory master/ mistress and the dormitory prefect
9.	The dorm windows are not grilled and easily open outwards
10.	The dorm is provided with fire extinguishing equipment at each of the exit points.
11.	The dormitory is fitted with a manual fire alarm system that is easily accessible from the main exit points.
12.	The learners using the dormitory have appointed fire safety stewards
13.	The learners have been trained on how to use portable fire equipment and basic fire safety skills.
14.	Regular random spot-checks are conducted by the dorm master, duty teacher in-charge, and or the dorm prefect on regular basis.
15.	Accurate roll-call is taken regularly for the dorm attendants before retiring for the night.
16.	No visitor is allowed in the dormitory unsupervised during the day or night
17.	Regular patrols are conducted by the school security personnel and there is a security officer allocated the dorm as the patrol area of coverage
18.	Hygiene inspection of the dormitory and learners is conducted once a week
19.	All dormitory bunk beds are fitted with side-grills to protect young learners against falling off.
20.	The dormitory undergoes annual fire safety audit to ascertain the current conditions for improvements.

The above checklist is in line with the school safety standard No. 2 as listed in the document standard and outlined as:

The writer is a PhD Generalist in Safety Service Delivery and Project Management.

Contact: benard.lango@gmail.com