Strategic approaches for developing a culture of safety management in schools: Indications from literature studies

Abstract

Natural disasters can take away children’s lives and their right to quality education. This article identifies and discusses strategies that schools can employ to prepare for and minimise the effects of natural disasters. Using theoretical propositions and literature on disaster management, the article discusses strategies for the prevention of and preparedness to respond to and recovery from natural disasters within a school setting. Evidence from research indicates that there are basic principles and practices of disaster management that school management and learners may not be aware of. Based on the identified theoretical principles and practices for disaster management, the article concludes that both state and non-state parties have disaster management responsibilities and therefore should formulate and disseminate the basic principles and practices of disaster prevention, preparedness and post-disaster therapy to schools because of the vulnerability of children to disaster. In addition, it also recommends that disaster management should be included in the school curricula through subjects like geography, science, social studies or civic education and life orientation or skills training.

A Framework for Fire Safety Management in School Facilities

“…In addition, poor safety management and housekeeping practices are critical causes of fires in schools (Bhebhe et al, 2019). Electrical fires may occur due to the overloading of the electrical plugs and connections.…”

“…Classrooms are the mostly used type of space in schools, since they are the core workplace, in which students spend most of their time during the school day (Moore and Lackney, 1993). This density could be a high risk factor during fire emergencies, where students' response might be random and disorganized during these accidents (Bhebhe et al, 2019). Further, these spaces accommodate a high concentration of combustible materials, in terms of paper as well as furnishings (Ilori et al, 2019).…”

“…The finding of the field inspection would provide for identifying the shortcomings, and developing and implementing prevention measures to improve the condition of fire safety (Gairín and Castro, 2011). A continuous enforcement and improvement of the fire safety measures should be always performed in school facilities, in order to maintain the implementation of an active preventive management (Bhebhe et al, 2019;Naranasamy and Abdullah, 2019).…”

“…This paper presents a generic, systematic framework for fire safety management in school facilities. The framework provides the set of integrated knowledge areas that administrators and facilities managers would need to identify and assess the legislative requirements for fire prevention in schools (Bhebhe et al, 2019;Hassanain, 2006;Vicario, 2012;Lo, 1999). The developed framework depicts the set of office and field processes that need to be performed to safeguard against fire accidents in schools.…”

“…Fires constitute a critical type of hazard in school facilities (Jonsson et al, 2016;Bhebhe et al, 2019). Statistics indicated that a significant number of fatalities and injuries, around the world, have taken place in schools, due to fire accidents (Lambie et al, 2018).…”