Petition calls for sprinklers in schools

Unions are getting behind a campaign to install sprinkers in schools - vital for the safety of children and education workers.

Warren Ellison, an FBU firefighters' union rep in West Yorkshire, has posted a petition on the prime minister's website "to require the installation of sprinkler systems in all new schools and in any school that undergoes a major refurbishment".

Ellison told Labour Research: "My feeling is that, as we have never been able to accurately predict where there will be a fire, all children should be offered the same level of protection. To that end, my petition calls for sprinklers to be fitted to new builds and major refurbishments as a matter of course."

He started the petition following by two major fires in schools in West Yorkshire earlier this year. On average, 2,000 schools are damaged or destroyed by fire each year, with a many as 40 people injured in these incidents every year. Yet only 200 out of the UK's 28,000 schools are fitted with sprinklers.

The FBU and the NUT teachers' union have long supported the compulsory fitting of sprinklers. And fellow education union the ATL is set to discuss the issue at its annual conference this month, with a view to launching a campaign of its own.

ATL national organiser Collette Bradford said the union "supports the mandatory installation of sprinkler systems in all new build and all major school and college refurbishments throughout the UK".

The petition can be signed at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/sprinklers