External escapes on new schools

[kpnut]

Please can anyone clear this point for me - do we allow external fire escapes on new school buildings.   ADB use to say not for Assembly Buildings (but do we consider the school children as members of the public)?  -  BB100 does not seems to make this clear !

Could anyone please clarify this point for me ?

[John Webb]

kpnut,
My instinct says that external fire escapes on school buildings should be eliminated for a number of reasons:
(a) need to protect external escape from snow/ice so feet don't slip
(b) they provide extra access for vandels, thieves and the like.

Having the escape stairs inside the building eliminates these problems.
In addition, with the staircase in the building it is easy to use it for normal daily access thereby ensuring building occupants know all the ways out.
So regardless of BB100 I'd go for internal stairs.

[kurnal]

Yes I agree with John. Fire Safety apart, if its a secondary school there is a peak flow every lesson change and if externals are provided they wont be used at this time leading to congestion internally.. Also most teenage students have their big rucksacks with them which increases congestion.

[Ken Taylor]

Not ideal and not to be encouraged but I am not aware that we can disallow them. Many schools have external escape stairs. There would be a duty to have them readily available for use and to be safe and without risk so far as reasonably practicable - so a regime of snow, ice and rubbish clearance should be essential.

[saddlers]

Kpnut,
I would not class students as members of the public, I have always interpreted this as being groups of people who's mix of abilites/ages/independence etc will not be known until the time of evacuation. The persons using the stairs age, abilities and independence levels will be known.

Onto the issue of the external stair, I would agree with the above comments in that, in my opinion they are acceptable, but there are a multitude of benefits in providing internal stairs, I would consider it more appropriate on existing buildings rather than new build.

[AM]

Yes I agree with John. Fire Safety apart, if its a secondary school there is a peak flow every lesson change and if externals are provided they wont be used at this time leading to congestion internally.. Also most teenage students have their big rucksacks with them which increases congestion.

BB100 suggests that all escape routes should mirror the circulation patterns within the building which avoids having dedicated escape stairs and ensures that pupils are familiar with all escape routes.