Sharjah’s Prevention and Safety Authority has issued a new guide to improve the level of safety in educational facilities in the emirate. Private schools are required to adhere to the procedures that it includes.

This came after repeated incidents, such as drowning, suffocation and fire, in schools during the past years due to negligence in safety and security requirements.

The guide included eight requirements to maintain the safety of students in swimming pools, namely, to ensure the cleanliness of the pool water, and the availability of purification devices to constantly check their cleanliness, the presence of boards that clarify the depths of the pools, the presence of a permanent savior, rescue equipment and first aid, and to ensure the safety and safe isolation of electrical devices and connections, Providing a fence around the pool to prevent children from reaching the pools, separating the children's pool from the adult pool, having a ladder on the edge of the pool, and providing adequate lighting.

The Director of the Support Services Department at the authority, Eng. Lamia Al-Noman, told «Emirates Today» that the authority seeks to reduce accidents and prevent their occurrence by generalizing preventive measures.

She added that the new guide is available on the authority’s website and can be found, noting that the authority intends to carry out periodic visits, in cooperation with the Sharjah Private Education Authority, to ensure that the safety and protection standards set forth in the guide are followed.

She indicated that the guide provided for eight precautions to prevent drowning accidents for children, and four conditions and procedures for first aid, to help students and give them advice in case they needed to.

She said that the educational facility must commit to appointing a nurse familiar with the chemicals used in the laboratories, providing first aid courses for teachers, the administrative staff and bus drivers, and setting up first aid boxes in the laboratories, stadiums and buses.

She pointed out that the guide also contained a requirement for schools to provide 10 requirements for fire detection and firefighting systems to prevent and control fires before they spread, namely the provision of smoke detectors on all floors, corridors and classrooms, and to ensure that there are no malfunctions in the fire alarm panel, and keep fire pumps in a position Automation, the presence of fire alarm, the provision of fire extinguishers, water cannons in accessible places, the installation of a smart security system «safety», not closing the fire hose box, and ensuring the safety of the alarm bell.

Accidents due to negligence

The «Emirates Today» monitored incidents that occurred inside schools during the past years, due to neglect of safety and security standards, including the exposure of a government school in Sharjah to a limited fire in one of the vital facilities, which led to cases of suffocation between students and workers, and the occurrence of 21 students with minor injuries as a result of inhaling residues Pesticides, sprayed in the school by a specialized company, and the death of a citizen student drowning in a private school swimming pool.