Student accommodation is always one of the types of property that is most at risk of suffering from a fire. This is down to the fact that there are many people living within one building, for many it is the first time they will live independently away from home and the type of lifestyle a typical student will live at first, lends itself to be a little bit riskier.
Here we take a look at fire safety in student accommodation and how students can keep an eye on their own fire safety, for the good of the entire building.
Plan Ahead – Firstly, the typical student night out often ends with a drunken group of students coming home to their shared kitchen and thinking it’s the best time to cook a bacon sandwich, or throw a pizza into the oven. Plan ahead, and either bring a takeaway back home with you, or pre-cook some food. Your reaction times to a fire, and the potential for a fire to start, will be heightened with alcohol involved.
Switch Off Appliances – Whether it’s cooking appliances, hair dryers and straighteners, tablets or lamps. When you’ve finished using something, make sure it is switched off. Don’t leave packaging lying around the kitchen as this could be a fire hazard.
Know Your Escape – If an alarm goes off, listen to it, as even if it is a drill or there is no fire, you don’t know for certain at first. Ensure you know your escape route and where you are meant to meet as a checkpoint. If fire exits are blocked, unblocked them, and if you see a fire and the alarm isn’t sounding, go straight to switch it on.
Source Fire can conduct fire risk assessments for student accommodation.