Fire detection and life safety specialist CDS has teamed up with the National Union of Students during Student Fire Safety Week in October to raise awareness of the most common causes of potentially fatal blazes.
It has produced an eye-catching downloadable poster which can be displayed in communal areas of halls of residence and student accommodation across the UK during the week, which runs from October 25.
The posters offer fire safety tips to remind students of the hazards presented by fire – which are all too easily forgotten amidst the excitement of meeting new friends and enjoying university life.
They will be distributed via the NUS to all its members and shared on its social media platforms for maximum impact.
The brains behind the campaign, CDS national sales manager Sophie Kelly, says the posters could save lives.
“Most students spend more weeks a year at their university address than their family home. We want them to have fun in a safe environment and know what to do if they’re faced with a fire. One fact that stands out to me is that you are seven times more likely to experience a fire if you live in shared accommodation.”
In London alone the capital’s fire brigade attends around 60 fires a year in student accommodation. Over the past three years there were 3,200 false alarms from student accommodation – wasting valuable 999 resources which could have been deployed elsewhere.
CDS has been installing, maintaining and servicing fire safety systems at universities across the country for more than 30 years.
CDS MD Simon Abley said: “Obviously it’s very important that students understand how to play their part in staying safe in their new home. But, as these figures from the London Fire Brigade suggest, it is also the responsibility of the landlords to ensure that their fire safety systems are fully functioning and compliant.
“False alarms are a big frustration within student accommodation for residents and the onsite management teams, often leading to these being ignored or reacted to too late by students. At CDS we have installed monitoring software which notifies the onsite teams via their mobile phones of all fire alarm activations.
“When implemented alongside their fire risk strategy this allows a period of investigation ahead of a full evacuation. This has been proven to reduce callouts to a false alarm and ensures blue light services are available to deal with a genuine emergency.”
