Risk managers warned school arson on the rise

The cost of arson in schools has risen by 30% over the last five years, according to a risk managers conference.

Delegates at the annual South East conference of Alarm - the national forum for risk management in the public sector - were told last week that school fires lead to a reduction in teaching quality.

However risk managers at the conference last week were told they can combat this trend.

Mick Gardiner, of Gardiner Associates and a fire investigation consultant, warned delegates that school arson leads to physical and financial implications.

Gardiner said: "Fires in schools effect the whole community. The majority of the children who are responsible for arson attacks on schools in this country are doing it for a reason. We need to ask `what makes an arsonist?."

The conference called on risk managers to use common sense when deciding where to store chairs and other combustibles in classrooms.

Gardiner added: "We also must start to use our common sense - simple things such as the way you store the chairs and other combustibles in the classrooms could reduce the spread of a fire."