BELCHERTOWN, Mass., Feb. 10, 2009 - The U.S. Department of Education announced the members of the committee that will be charged with developing regulations for the provisions of the Campus Fire Safety Right-to-Know that were passed as part of the Higher Education Opportunity Act in 2008. Ed Comeau, publisher of Campus Firewatch, has been appointed as a single issue primary negotiator for fire safety.
The Campus Fire Safety Right-to-Know Act was introduced by Congressman Bill Pascrell (NJ) and Senator Frank Lautenberg (NJ) in order to provide students and parents with information on the level of fire safety at campuses across the nation, including:
- The number of fires and the cause of each fire
- The number of injuries related to a fire that result in treatment at a medical facility
- The number of deaths related to a fire
- The value of property damage caused by a fire
- A description of each on-campus student housing facility fire safety system, including the fire sprinkler system
- The number of regular mandatory supervised fire drills
- Policies or rules on portable electrical appliances, smoking, and open flames (such as candles), procedures for evacuation, and policies regarding fire safety education and training programs provided to students, faculty, and staff
- Plans for future improvements in fire safety, if determined necessary by such institution
In order to gather input from campuses and communities, Campus Firewatch has established a webpage that contains the language of the Right-to-Know provisions and a wiki where visitors can provide recommendations for the language. This page can be reached here.
The schedule of meetings and additional information will also be posted on this page and available in Campus Firewatch.
Campus Firewatch, in publication since 2000, is a monthly electronic newsletter focusing on campus fire safety. For more information, visit our website at www.campus-firewatch.com.
