Fire and Life Safety Education Program for All Grades in K-12 Education System

Fire Prevention and Code Enforcement Unit 8 Project Instructions

The department has been approached by the school superintendent about starting a Fire and Life Safety Education Program for all grades, K-12. As the fire inspector, this project will fall under your responsibility. The superintendent has asked that you submit your program plan in writing so that it can be reviewed and discussed at the next school board meeting. If your plan is approved, the program will begin the next school year. However, there are budget constraints, and several members of the school board feel like there are more important areas and programs that need funding.

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You are to create a plan for a Fire and Life Safety Education Program. Given the circumstances with some of the school board members, your plan should begin with a summary of a comprehensive overview of general fire safety for occupied buildings. You should also demonstrate rationale for the general fire safety provisions as methods of fire protection. Let them know how important this program is through the short-term and long-term benefits to students and to the community as a whole. Also, be sure to include the following:

  • goals for the program
  • organization of grades (Will you group some grades?)
  • a broad outline of the topics to be taught,broad details of any special events/activities
  • a plan to keep the program going, year after year. (Will certain grades be taught certain topics each year so that, as student progress, they learn new things?)

Fire and Life Safety Education Program Plan

Program Goal

This paper focuses on developing Fire and Life Safety Education Program for all grades in K-12 education system. The purpose of this program is to educate learners on the fire risk, prevention and intervention measures. The main goals of the program is to ensure that the learners are able to prevent situations that can result into fire risks and that they are able to take the right measure either to eliminate the hazard or to safe themselves and others from dangers related to the hazard during their education program and in the future life.  The program will offer a lifetime fire safety skill.

General Fire Safety for Occupied Buildings

In a school environment, the occupied building include offices, classes,  dormitory for schools with boarding facility, kitchen and dining halls, laboratories, and libraries. The general safety for occupied building starts by risk assessment, defining the means for escape based on the risk, defining means for fire detection and defining means for fire intervention (Health and Safety Executive, n.d.).

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Risk Assessment: Risk assessment should be conducted to determine possible fire hazards that are likely to happen in the occupied buildings, their possible source and their possible magnitude based on the source and the surrounding building materials or facilities stored in the structures. The hazards identification should also note any possible materials that would fuel the fire further. The assessment should also identify people that are likely to be at risk. This includes teachers, students, visitors or subordinate staffs, and who are more vulnerable for instance if there are disabled individuals or children they would be more vulnerable. The assessment should also measure possible action that would be taken by those affected and what can be done to safe those that are highly vulnerable. Risk recording, developing plan for fire safety and ensure regular review of individual ability to address fire situation.

Means of Escape: Every occupied building should have fire exit. The fire exit should be strategically position from possible fire sources, should be unobstructed, well lite, and clearly labeled ensure that it is clearly visible to all. The exit should also lead to an open field where evacuated individual can assemble for counting in order to know whether there individuals still trapped in the fire (Health and Safety Executive, n.d.).

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Fire Detection Means: Every occupied building should have means for detecting fire at early stage. This can include smoke detectors or heat detector with audible and clearly distinct alarm. These detectors should be well maintained and always functional. Their main purpose is to give a signal in case of fire at its early stage to facilitate early evacuation and counter measures.

Fire Fighting Means: Each building should have effecting and functional means of addressing fire incident. This includes fire extinguishers that match possible cause of fire in a building and of enough size to handle the fire in the building. Other interventions include sprinkler system among other means (Health and Safety Executive, n.d.).

Organization of Grades

The Fire and Life Safety Education Program will be taught to all from grade 1 to grade 12. The students will be grouped into four main groups each comprising three grades. The course will be offered to each grade based on their level of understanding and hence, the content will vary in complexity. The grades will be organized as follows:

Group A – Grade 1 to Grade 3

Group B – Grade 4 to Grade 6

Group C – Grade 7 to Grade 8

Group D – Grade 9 to Grade 12

Outline of the Topics to be Taught

Group A:  Introduction to fire safety; what is fire hazard, sources of fire hazards, damages caused and simple prevention and intervention measures.

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Group B: Fire risk assessment; identifying fire risks in different places starting with schools and home, Sources of fire in the selected places to cover all possible sources; kitchen fire, electric fire, chemical fire, or accidental candle fire among others. Identifying possible fuels of fire in different places, identifying people affect in all identified cases (State of India, n.d.).

Group B: Means of fire detection; learning more about fire alarms, how they work and how they should be maintained. Should cover different fire detection systems

Group C: Fire escape; should include fire exits, exits passage, exit field and practical session on individual reaction when fire alarm gets off; A drill practical should be included

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Group D: Fire intervention. Learn different fire intervention and how they work, learn how to use those that are readily available such as fire extinguishers. Practical involving a fire drill should be done. The practical should include escape and intervention.

Events: Visit to fire station and have an interactive session with workers and the management for group C and D. Student to learn more about how alarms work and how the firefighters respond to the situation. The learning should include the protective measures they employ to ensure their safety during the firefighting event. Students will be allowed to ask questions and to explore. Note: The topics will be divided to fit new subtopics for the three years to make learning exiting (WHO, 2014).

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