College Planning & Management is the information resource for professionals serving the college and university market. Covering facilities, security, technology and business.
Issue link: https://collegeplanning.epubxp.com/i/131338
Safety & Security PREPARE AND BE AWARE Fire! At college and university campuses, fre and life-safety measures emphasize protecting the buildings most at risk: residence halls. BY MICHAEL FICKE S F OR THE PAST DECADE, fire safety programs on college and university campuses have focused on keeping students safe while in campus residence halls and fraternity and sorority houses. "Colleges and universities have safety programs for laboratories — to secure hazardous materials, for instance — and classroom buildings are generally considered safe environments," says Randall L. Hormann, president and CEO of Cincinnati, OH-based Campus Fire Safety Com, LLC, a consulting firm that trains and 34 educates educational institutions about fire and life safety. In addition, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards require fire suppression systems such as sprinklers for what it calls special hazard situations. These include facilities that use or store flammable materials. Kitchens, cafeterias, and science labs should all make use of suppression systems. "From a pure numbers standpoint, college and university environments are relatively safe from the effects of fire," Robert Solomon, division manager with the COLLEGE PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / MAY 2013 NFPA's Fire Protection and Life Safety Department, writes in a prepared statement. "We do not hear of major, catastrophic fires at college/university campuses. That is not to say that it can't occur, but the loss data would point to some balance between commitment of resources, adoption and enforcement of codes and standards, and instilling some fire-safe behaviors among the student population." While that's true, there are a number of small, too often deadly, fires in student housing on campus. Generally speaking, the cause is careless students. WWW.PLANNING 4EDUCATION.COM