Compliance of fire safety measures for accommodation of people in Riga schools

Abstract

This article describes the situation with fire safety at Riga schools regarding their compliance with the fire safety requirements set in Latvia for accommodation of people in schools. The objective of the current paper was to research and evaluate the compliance with the requirements of regulatory enactments regarding the accommodation in Riga schools and analyse the actual fire safety situation during accommodation of participants of the Dance and Song Festivals in Riga schools. The research was conducted in spring of 2018, prior to the Dance and Song Festival, assessing the compliance of 60 accommodation sites with the Latvian regulatory enactments on fire safety. During the Dance and Song Festival, it was planned to organise accommodation places in schools for 24 000 persons – participants of the festival events in the city of Riga. Ensuring fire safety at public facilities is a topical issue for any country, since the fulfilment of fire safety requirements is important not only in cases, when school premises are intended to be used for temporary accommodation of participants of the Dance and Song Festivals for a period not exceeding a week, but also in cases when children have to stay in school premises every day to receive the knowledge they will need in their future lives and the fulfilment of fire safety regulations is an important condition for providing the overall safety.