School Safety Equipment Ireland

Safety Equipment Ireland supplies safety equipment to primary schools, secondary schools, colleges and universities across Ireland. The catalogue covers defibrillators, evacuation chairs, fire door holders and emergency signage, all supplied on a quotation basis with advice from the sales team.

safetyequipment.ie is owned and operated by Phoenix STS, the fire safety and health and safety consultancy and training provider. The same team that supplies the equipment can train school staff to use it, which matters in a school where the people operating evacuation equipment during a drill are teachers and support staff rather than safety professionals.

Fire safety duties in schools

The Fire Services Acts 1981 and 2003 place a general duty on the person in control of a school to take reasonable measures to guard against the outbreak of fire and to make sure everyone on the premises can reach safety if a fire occurs. In plain terms, the school must be able to get every pupil, staff member and visitor out safely, and the equipment that supports evacuation has to be in place and working before it is ever needed.

The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 applies to schools as workplaces. Boards of management and school leaders must prepare emergency plans, provide the equipment those plans rely on and make sure staff are trained for the roles they are expected to carry out. In practice this means named staff know who sweeps each corridor, who assists pupils with reduced mobility and who takes the roll call at the assembly point.

Fire drills are routine in Irish schools, and a drill is the best test of whether the equipment matches the building. Moving several hundred children to an assembly point in a few minutes quickly shows whether stair doors, escape routes and assisted-evacuation arrangements work as planned.

Evacuating children and pupils with reduced mobility

Evacuating children is different from evacuating adults. Younger pupils move as supervised groups rather than as individuals, assembly and roll call take longer, and pupils with mobility, sensory or additional needs may need one-to-one assistance. Equipment should be chosen around these realities rather than added as an afterthought.

A personal emergency evacuation plan, or PEEP, sets out in advance how a named pupil or staff member who cannot evacuate unaided will be assisted out of the building. If a pupil uses a wheelchair and their classroom is on an upper floor, the PEEP identifies who operates the evacuation chair, the route to be used and where assistance begins and ends. Phoenix STS prepares personal emergency evacuation plans for schools and other organisations.

For multi-storey school buildings, evacuation chairs are the usual answer. They are normally stored at stair heads on upper floors, kept covered and brought into every drill so the trained staff stay familiar with them. The evacuation chair buying guide covers the details worth gathering before requesting a quotation.

AED readiness on campus

Many schools now install a defibrillator as part of their emergency planning. A school AED serves pupils, staff and visitors, and often the wider community using sports halls and pitches outside school hours. The practical decisions are where the AED gives the fastest response, whether an outdoor cabinet would let community users reach it when the building is locked, and who checks pads and batteries through the year. The defibrillator and AED buying guide and the AED pads and batteries replacement guide cover these points in more detail.

Recommended product areas

Defibrillators - AEDs, cabinets, pads and batteries for school buildings and sports facilities. See also the ZOLL defibrillator range.

Evacuation Chairs - stairway evacuation chairs for multi-storey school buildings, including the Exitmaster evacuation chair range.

Fire Door Holders - door holders that release fire doors when the alarm sounds, so corridor doors stay accessible during the school day. See the fire door holder buying guide.

Representative products

Versa Evacuation Chair - Exitmaster stairway evacuation chair, details and quotation information.

eGo Evacuation Chair - Exitmaster evacuation chair for assisted escape on stairs.

ZOLL AED 3 Semi-Automatic - defibrillator for workplace and public-access use.

ZOLL AED Plus Semi-Automatic - defibrillator for workplace and public-access use.

Powerheart G5 AED Semi-Automatic - defibrillator for workplace and public-access use.

Surface Mount Wall Cabinet for ZOLL and Powerheart AEDs - indoor AED wall cabinet, details and quotation information.

Dorgard - Fireco fire door holder, details and quotation information.

DorMag Pro - Fireco fire door holder, details and quotation information.

Staff training for school safety equipment

Equipment only works in a drill if staff have used it before. Phoenix STS delivers evacuation chair training for the staff named in PEEPs, fire warden training for the staff who run drills and manage assembly points, and HeartSaver AED training for staff responsible for the school defibrillator. Training and equipment can be arranged together in a single enquiry.

School safety equipment FAQs

What safety equipment does a school typically need? It depends on the buildings. A single-storey school may only need door management, signage and first aid provision, while a multi-storey school usually adds evacuation chairs at stair heads. Many schools also install an AED. Describe the buildings in the enquiry and the sales team can advise.

Who should operate an evacuation chair in a school? A trained member of staff, normally the person named in the pupil's or colleague's PEEP, with at least one other trained person to cover absence. Training is available through Phoenix STS and can be quoted with the chair.

Where should a school AED be located? Somewhere central and visible that gives the fastest response to classrooms, the PE hall and the pitches. If community groups use the grounds in the evening, an outdoor cabinet keeps the AED reachable when the building is locked.

Can fire doors in school corridors be held open? Not with wedges, which stop the door doing its job in a fire. Purpose-made fire door holders release the door when the alarm sounds, so corridors stay accessible during the day without compromising fire safety.

Can equipment for several school buildings be quoted together? Yes. List the buildings or campuses with quantities for each and the quotation can cover the full requirement.

How to request a quote

Send the product names, quantities, delivery address and the school or campus details to the sales team. Call the sales team on 043 3349611, email [email protected], or request a quotation through the contact page. The team can advise on suitability and availability before anything is ordered.

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