Fire Safety Lacking on Student Programs Abroad

This is why ClearCause is working for safeguards on student programs abroad – no policy protects our kids.
According to an article from George Washington University’s website, they are launching an initiative to extend fire safety to their study abroad programs.
Thomas Hayden, inspections supervisor in the Office of Safety and Security at George Washington University and Robert Hallworth, director of the Office of Study Abroad are leading the initiative.
Shockingly, George Washington University proclaims their program may be the first of its kind in the U.S. to ensure fire safety on study abroad programs. “We believe the George Washington University is the only higher education institute in the nation to initiate a fire safety abroad program that extends beyond awareness training,” said Mr. Hayden. About 280,000 American college students studied abroad last year.
According to the George Washington University’s website, their goals within the program are to:

1.  Address the immediate concerns for fire and life safety,
2. Propose a system to capture baseline fire protection standards for more developed countries,
3. Develop an internal standard for what constitutes an acceptable level of fire protection for students studying abroad.

George Washington University students study abroad in dozens of countries around the world, but the university is focusing the initial fire safety program on five major cities: Paris, London, Madrid, Santiago and Buenos Aires.
The university confirms living residences in London are checked regularly and smoke alarms have been installed in five student residences in Paris, used largely for students studying abroad. The university reports installing 20 smoke detectors in host family homes in Madrid.  Similar efforts are in the works for Buenos Aires and Santiago.
The university is also working to inform students of necessary fire safety information before they leave the country by working with the Jasmine Jahanshahi Fire Safety Foundation. “Fire safety regulations and approaches to prevention differ greatly from country to country,” said Mr. Hallworth in George Washington University’s article. “We are working closely together to bring attention to the important issue of fire safety for our students studying abroad.”
Jasmine Jahanshahi is one of four students who died in an apartment fire in Paris in 2011. (Read about Jasmine here.) The Jasmine Jahanshahi Fire Safety Foundation was created to help improve fire safety in her honor.
“Many fire-related incidents can be prevented simply by installing smoke detection and alarm systems,” said Darrell Darnell, senior associate vice president for safety and security at George Washington University. “This fire safety prevention and protection program will increase our students’ awareness of fire prevention methods and provide them with an enhanced level of standardized protection while living and studying abroad.”
At ClearCause we dislike referring to student deaths as ‘incidents’. An incident is something you can recover from – like an illness, lost passport or robbery, but student deaths are casualties and tragedies.
If you believe Fire Safety should be mandated in programs encouraging America’s sons and daughters to voyage onto foreign soil, then please push the button “ClearCause Voices” on the right to send a message to your federal and state policy makers.
Safety is not an accident.