When a fire alarm sounds in a standard office building, adults generally look around, grab their mobile phones, and walk toward the nearest exit. But what happens when the occupants of a building are under five years old, unable to walk, or terrified of loud noises?
Managing fire safety in an early childhood education and care facility is one of the most high-stakes responsibilities a facility manager or educator will ever face. Unlike self-sufficient adults, young children rely entirely on your team to guide them to safety.
Welcome to today’s session at the Fire Industry Academy. Whether you are an educator, a nominated supervisor, or a facility manager, understanding the unique hazards, preventative measures, building codes, and emergency plans is vital to keeping Australia’s most vulnerable occupants safe. Let us look at how we build robust, compliant fire safety systems in our centres.
The Regulatory Landscape: Regulations 97 and 168
In Australia, the quality of education and care is governed by the Education and Care Services National Regulations. If you run or manage a centre, two specific regulations must be at the top of your compliance checklist.
Regulation 168 mandates that every childcare service must have comprehensive emergency and evacuation policies and procedures in place. This is an active, living document that must be reviewed regularly and understood by every staff member.
Regulation 97 dictates how these plans are put into practice. It requires services to rehearse their emergency and evacuation procedures at least once every three months. Every single drill must be fully documented, noting the date, time, names of those present, and any challenges faced during the rehearsal.
These rehearsals must cover various scenarios, including fires, and must involve all staff, children, and visitors present at the centre at the time of the drill.
Australian Standards and NCC Class 9b Requirements
To protect your centre, you must understand the building itself. Under the National Construction Code (NCC), early childhood centres are classified as Class 9b buildings.
Because young children are vulnerable occupants who cannot evacuate themselves, the NCC imposes incredibly strict building requirements on these facilities, especially when they are located on the upper storeys of multi-storey buildings. These include:
- Fire separation: Specialised fire and smoke barriers to compartmentalise areas and prevent the rapid spread of fire and toxic smoke.
- Egress pathways: Wider corridors and doorways (designed to easily accommodate specialised evacuation cots), and specific travel distances to safe assembly areas.
- Active fire systems: Mandated sprinkler systems, smoke detection systems, and emergency warning and intercom systems depending on the size and height of the building.
Alongside the NCC, Australian Standard AS 3745-2010 (Planning for emergencies in facilities) serves as the benchmark for designing your Emergency Planning Committee (EPC) and Emergency Control Organisation (ECO), commonly known as the warden structure.
Common Causes of Fires in Childcare Centres
Fires in childcare environments generally stem from everyday equipment and human activity. Recognizing these hazards is the first step in risk reduction.
- Kitchen and cooking hazards: Many centres feature commercial or domestic kitchens to prepare fresh meals. Unattended cooking, built-up grease, and toaster malfunctions are leading causes of fires.
- Electrical equipment failure: Childcare centres rely on a high volume of electrical appliances, including bottle warmers, laminators, clothes dryers, microwaves, and power boards. Overloaded power boards or damaged cords can easily spark a fire.
- Heating equipment: During winter, space heaters and wall-mounted heaters are heavily used. If placed too close to curtains, play mats, dress-up clothes, or blankets, they can quickly ignite a fire.
Prevention Strategies
Preventing a fire is always better than reacting to one. Implementing robust preventative measures significantly reduces the risk of an incident occurring.
- Electrical testing and tagging: All portable electrical appliances must be routinely inspected, tested, and tagged by a qualified person to ensure they are safe for use.
- Safe storage of combustible materials: Art supplies, cardboard boxes, dress-up clothing, and paper must be stored away from potential heat sources, electrical switchboards, and heaters.
- Kitchen safety protocols: Ensure all cooking appliances have automatic shut-off timers. Maintain a strict “no child” zone in the kitchen and clean exhaust hoods regularly to prevent grease build-up.
- Dryer maintenance: Clean the lint filters in clothes dryers after every single load to prevent overheating.
Daily Safety Procedures and Warden Protocols
Daily diligence keeps emergency systems ready to perform when they are needed most. Establish these routine safety procedures in your facility:
- Clear exit paths: Conduct daily checks to ensure that prams, toys, high chairs, and play equipment never block fire exits, corridors, or evacuation cot pathways.
- AS 1851 maintenance: Under Australian Standard AS 1851 (Routine service of fire protection systems and equipment), ensure certified technicians regularly test and service your active fire systems and equipment, including smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, fire blankets, and emergency exit signs.
- Warden training protocols: Ensure that your staff are trained under AS 3745-2010 guidelines. Every shift must have designated wardens who understand their specific roles, how to use fire blankets and extinguishers, and how to coordinate an evacuation.
Emergency Response: Step-by-Step Evacuation Actions
When a fire is detected, every second counts. Your staff must follow a structured, rehearsed step-by-step emergency response plan:
- Step 1: Alert and assess. Immediately trigger the fire alarm to alert the entire centre. Call triple zero (000) and request the fire brigade. Quickly assess the location of the fire.
- Step 2: Mobilise vulnerable occupants. Educators must immediately secure infants and toddlers. Place infants into specialised evacuation cots. These cots are heavy-duty, wheeled units built to fit through standard internal doors and emergency exits. For walking toddlers, secure them to evacuation ropes or walking rings so they can be guided together as a group.
- Step 3: Conduct systematic room sweeps. While evacuating, designated search wardens must sweep every room. Frightened children do not always run toward exits; they often hide in cot rooms, under blankets, inside play tunnels, or in cupboards. Search every potential hiding spot.
- Step 4: Evacuate to the assembly area. Move children calmly and quickly along designated egress pathways to the predetermined safe assembly area. Ensure evacuation cots are wheeled smoothly through emergency exits.
- Step 5: Account and report. Once at the assembly area, conduct a roll call using the daily attendance record. Report the status of all children and staff to the Chief Warden and arriving emergency services.
Building Confidence Through Professional Training
Fire safety in childcare is not a paper-shuffling exercise; it is a life-saving practice. A well-designed building and a written emergency plan are useless if your educators do not know what to do when the alarm sounds.
Investing in professional training and warden certification through the Fire Industry Academy helps your team develop the calm leadership, muscle memory, and rapid response skills needed to handle a crisis.
When your staff know exactly how to deploy evacuation cots, how to perform systematic sweeps, and how to manage scared children, you create an environment where safety is second nature.