Fire! Where's the register... :)

[Tyiell]

Ok, so with usual foresight, we in IT have been told that we have a fire drill tomorrow...

 

So down comes the Deputy head and says "what solutions does your Network Manager have in place for taking registers if the building is burning down around us?". The answer: "nada". The response: "get one." (well, substitute half and hours pointless discussion for that, but you get the idea...).

 

So, what software do you guys use to register students in case of fire? Does it require network access (if so what happens if the server room is suicde bombed by an outraged member of tech support?).

 

Or do you rely on a paperbased system?

 

Cheers!

[Hightower]

Ok, so with usual foresight, we in IT have been told that we have a fire drill tomorrow...

 

So down comes the Deputy head and says "what solutions does your Network Manager have in place for taking registers if the building is burning down around us?". The answer: "nada". The response: "get one." (well, substitute half and hours pointless discussion for that, but you get the idea...).

 

So, what software do you guys use to register students in case of fire? Does it require network access (if so what happens if the server room is suicde bombed by an outraged member of tech support?).

 

Or do you rely on a paperbased system?

 

Cheers!

 

That's up to the office staff to sort out - not our remit here.

[powdarrmonkey]

We (the school) print a drill register each day just after registration, and record other comings and goings on paper.

 

It's a waste of paper most of the time, but it's better than one of the office girls burning to death waiting for the printer to calibrate.

[cookie_monster]

We have a paper based system and it's nothing to do with our department, it's SMT and office staff. This has been talked about before and there's no 'right' solution but the paper method works well and requires little training so anyone can do it.

[tmcd35]

That's up to the office staff to sort out - not our remit here.

 

Same here.

 

I woudl ask though - if your servers are engulfed in flames - what good is any technical solution going to do you at that point I recon a paper based system would probably work best

[webman]

Our attendance person prints off paper registers and take them outside when the alarm sounds. Several times per day should be sufficient, or every lesson depending on how kind to the environment you want to be.

[localzuk]

We tried using electronic systems, but the office had to print registers *after* all the marks were done, to be used in emergencies. So, we were printing 70 pages a day.

 

Now, we're back with a paper based system where a single sheet is in a register for the week.

 

We just haven't been able to figure out a good electronic solution as yet...

[Tyiell]

Same here.

 

I woudl ask though - if your servers are engulfed in flames - what good is any technical solution going to do you at that point I recon a paper based system would probably work best

 

Well one solution that is easier said than done that I've considered is to have a query that downloads the student form registers to a workgroup laptop's hdd every evening. Then it can be grabbed on the way out and it should in theory have registers accurate to the last 24 hours or so.

 

As I said though, it's easier said than done, I've never really done anything like that to Sims...

[powdarrmonkey]

Well one solution that is easier said than done that I've considered is to have a query that downloads the student form registers to a workgroup laptop's hdd every evening. Then it can be grabbed on the way out and it should in theory have registers accurate to the last 24 hours or so.

 

That's fine as long as somebody checks it regularly to make sure it hasn't stopped working for whatever reason. Printing paper reports is a check for us, since the office physically do it every day and check that all forms have printer properly.

 

Checks on a laptop should include: runs on battery for a sensible amount of time (say, an hour); has data; can display data without errors; data is up to date; screen and peripherals still work; etc.

 

However, fetching registers in the evening is pretty useless, it gives you no indication of who's on site today. If you're going to do it that way, it needs to happen just after registration periods.

[paul]

Best solution I have seen/used is keeping a set of laminated reg lists with dry wipe pens to hand, these are taken out on the alarm sounding and reg tutors mark pupils present or absent, these are then checked against a report printed out from your MIS of choice listing only absentees, this can be run either after morning/afternoon reg or if using lesson registration could be quickly run out on the alarm sounding. This would also need to be cross checked with any signing in books etc.

After the evacuation reg lists can simply be cleaned and reused, obviously they will need to be kept up to date with new arrivals etc.

[timzim]

Then it can be grabbed on the way out and it should in theory have registers accurate to the last 24 hours or so.

 

So that would be an accurate record of who's still inside the burning building then?

[gibbo_ap]

office staff do the fire regs printed from PARS

 

i have to do a staff register, i have to collate this each year according to the time table and who is not in and who is at the VI form (ie not burning inside)

[Tyiell]

So that would be an accurate record of who's still inside the burning building then?

 

Good point. I believe the idea was that the form tutors should know which kids weren't in at registration...

 

Trouble is, that leaves too much to chance. As Powdarrmonkey says, I suppose it needs to update in the morning, or every hour. But then it requires too much maintenance and checking...

 

Not an easy one...

[localzuk]

This is an issue to take up with the fire officer at your local fire service - they will give advice as to what exactly is needed from you, then a solution can be built around that.

 

A single laptop with data exported to it would not be much use... What if you have 30 classes, can you imagine how long it would take to register them all from one laptop?

[Mr.Ben]

We had a drill at 8.55 the other day. Everything was useless as no registers had been taken!

[Tyiell]

That's up to the office staff to sort out - not our remit here.

 

Nice - something that could possibly have a tenuous link to computers or electricity that isn't IT's remit? Got any vacancies?

[Tyiell]

This is an issue to take up with the fire officer at your local fire service - they will give advice as to what exactly is needed from you, then a solution can be built around that.

 

A single laptop with data exported to it would not be much use... What if you have 30 classes, can you imagine how long it would take to register them all from one laptop?

 

Hmm, that's true - I hadn't though of that! They really aren't going to like it when I tell them that paper is the only viable method though - they are all mad on saving the rainforests and stuff...

[SkywOrca]

To be fair, would any registers based system be adequate for ensuring the building is empty of people? Kids being kids they'll often as not be down the park when the register suggests they should be in. I can understand and would agree that some method of checking who has evacuated when the fire alarm sounds would be beneficial, but the only reliable method of ensuring the building is empty is for some of the staff to be fully trained as fire marshals, whose job it is to perform a sweep of the building (safely, obviously... they shouldn't be fighting through fire-engulfed rooms to check), and make sure that there's no-one left inside.

 

As Localzuk suggests, though, this should be something that the school adopt in conjunction with their local fire department.

[BatchFile]

What I'm about to say may strike you as odd - mad even - but I believe it to be true:

 

[tin_hat]

You don't need to do fire registers. If there are likely to be more than more than a certain number of people (~15 iirc) in a building then the fire brigade will search the entire building regardless.

[/tin_hat]

 

That was certainly the advice we were given when I was on the sims helpdesk and electronic registration was just beginning to kick in. Check with your LEA Health and safety, or anyone else, by all means, but I BELIEVE this to be correct.

 

That said, we do registers here - it definately helps to keep the kids under control - but it doesn't matter if they're not spot-on up to date

[localzuk]

What about some of this: Xerox shows off self-erasing, reusable paper : Obsessable Technology News

 

Not really on the market yet, but it will be soon enough...

[Domino]

What about printing to a pdf?

 

then a job uploads the pdf to a ftp server somewhere off site - you can then get it on a smartphone/pda/laptop with 3G dongle

 

just spitballing here...

[Tyiell]

What about some of this: Xerox shows off self-erasing, reusable paper : Obsessable Technology News

 

Not really on the market yet, but it will be soon enough...

 

Cool!

[Tyiell]

What about printing to a pdf?

 

then a job uploads the pdf to a ftp server somewhere off site - you can then get it on a smartphone/pda/laptop with 3G dongle

 

just spitballing here...

 

That seems feasible - we even have pdas collecting dust - maybe I can get dongles for them...

[elsiegee40]

We (primary) have a weekly fire register for each class where a child's name appears in a column for each day and morning a/afternoon session (i.e. 10 columns)

 

The forename is highlighted in orange if the child is absent, the family name is highlighted in green if they turn up late and have been marked absent in orange. These are kept by the main exit door to each building.

 

If the fire alrm sounds, a teacher from each building grabs the fire registers on their way out.

 

fire registers are an office problem, not mine

[cookie_monster]

What about printing to a pdf?

 

then a job uploads the pdf to a ftp server somewhere off site - you can then get it on a smartphone/pda/laptop with 3G dongle

 

just spitballing here...

 

 

 

We've thought over a few tec solutions but one stumbling block is always that you can't be sure who will be in the office, if you can just say print that then if there's a fire alarm grab it and go outside anyone can do that. PDA's, Laptops and so on require someone to be trained in what they're doing, it also needs to be kept charged etc