Education Business

Via a combined effort WT Partnership and AT&F Solutions Ltd are now able to help schools achieve their fire safety obligations as part of the new RRO ‘regulatory reform order’.

Responsibility - All Schools
“In practice, employers may delegate specific health and safety tasks to individuals (LEAs may delegate specific tasks to schools). But the employer retains the ultimate responsibility no matter who carries out the tasks. The employer should therefore maintain an audit track, making clear who is doing what and confirming that these tasks are being carried out”. Easier said than done – WT have found the AT&F e-learning package enables LEAs to track basic fire safety training as part of a blended learning approach to fire risk management.

In an era when outsourcing is the norm tracking all of those organisations that either have an input to the running of a school or rent the facility out of school time is a challenge in itself. Ensuring consistent communication of fire safety and arson risks across all user groups is even more difficult, this is particularly the case with PFI contracts where facilities management is contracted out, then sub-contracted and agreements made by the PFI company with leasing arrangements to other out of hours organisations.

Easy set up and administration
The ATF administration system allows schools to set the training up by organisation, department and individual. The system is applicable from stand alone usage up to LEA level. WT facilitate the set up and can provide an administration and access management service. ATF can advise on changes that can be made to individualise the programme by using images from your location and incorporating local fire safety policies and procedures into the package. In addition to using the training at a basic level it is also used as a foundation programme for hands on fire warden training thereby cutting down the amount of valuable time that staff are away from their place of work whilst adding another level of fire safety competence and compliance to the schools.

The training compliance works on a big brother principal, heads of department and managers can see their department’s performance – LEAs can see every school’s compliance and benchmark accordingly.

The e-learning can be integrated within a wider risk management package to map estates and risk assess by site, department, location and position. A simple tick box checklist can then be attached to show compliance with Fire Warden Duties, Fire Maintenance Logs etc. The programme can be used when building contracts are in progress as part of the site induction process and also used as part of the Health & Safety file that is handed to the client upon completion of the contract.

In The Line Of Fire is indeed a unique online training program that actually promotes this important message by reducing the risk of fire through education. For a free In The Line Of Fire evaluation account contact AT&F (details below).
    
WT Partnership
Additional services include:

• Project management
• Employer’s agent
• Cost management
• Health & Safety Consultancy
• Expert witness & legal advice
• Asset/insurance valuation
• Fund monitoring services
• Value management
• Life cycle costing
• Risk assessments
• Due diligence studies
• Contract advisory services
• Facilities management
• DDA Fire Safety access/audits/adaptations
  

Case Study
The latest input is a campaign aimed at Schools Fire Safety and Arson Prevention. This joint initiative involving Sandwell County Council and West Midlands Fire has now created interest from surrounding councils and fire authorities.

“As a result of our efforts, all staff and pupils can now be trained in fire safety in less than an hour and from any location. Instant benefits have been a noticeable drop in Incidents and Sandwell is now seen as a good example of a 'risk managed' authority by insurers, confirmation that the fire safety message is working" says Chris Williams – Health & Safety, Sandwell MBC

Many regional fire and rescue services obviously recognise this as being a vital role in fire prevention hence their keen interest in supporting the ‘In The Line Of Fire’ online training module. Terry Breslin of AT&F Solutions says ‘We are very proud to have the support and commitment of the many brigades that been instrumental in the ongoing development of the program, and by combining our resources with WT Partnership ‘experts in fire safety’ all key areas are now covered. All schools, LEAs and educational sectors can now benefit from this unique joint initiative.

Further information:

AT&F Solutions Ltd
Tel: 08701 657321
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www.atfsolutions.com 

WT Partnership
Tel: 020 8686 0431
charlotte.barber@wtpartnership