Installation And Maintenance

So why is fire door safety so important. If you purchase or install something that isn’t fit for the purpose you could be left with a headache at best, and find yourself having to chase up refunds and find a replacement item at worst. 

It’s a pain in the proverbial. 

But there are items that, if not fit for purpose, could prove deadly – fire doors being one. 

If you are the proprietor of a building that legally requires you to have fire doors installed you should know that the onus of responsibility for fire safety has since shifted from the fire authorities to whoever has day-to-day control of premises – in other words: YOU. 

The authorities have the power to prosecute or even close buildings down where breaches in fire door safety regulations are discovered. Which, let’s face it, is going to leave you with more than just a headache. 

It’s a bit of a no-brainer that the installation and maintenance of fire doors need to be taken seriously. Incorrectly installed or maintained fire doors is a major safety risk, to both the occupants of your building, and to the structure of the building itself. As with any life-saving product, your fire doors need to be regularly checked to ensure that they are fit for purpose – much the same as you would regularly test the batteries in your smoke alarm or the pressure of your fire extinguishers. 

However, it’s an unfortunate fact that all too often, the people who are responsible for a building’s fire risk strategies aren’t fully aware of the huge impact poor fire door installation, inspection and maintenance can have on their effectiveness in the event of a fire.

What Is A Fire Door?

A fire door is defined as ‘a door provided for the passage of persons, air or objects which, together with its frame and furniture as installed in a building, is intended (when closed) to resist the passage of fire and/or gaseous products of combustion and is capable of meeting specific performance criteria to those ends.’

Fire doors are often one of the least understood passive fire-protection measures of a building, but they play a vital role in delaying the spread of smoke and fire should the worst happen, supporting life-safety and building damage-control. 

But a fire door is more than just the door itself, or ‘leaf’. The effectiveness of a fire door in the event of a fire comes down to all the components working together; the door frame, hinges, the ironmongery, the glass panels and the seals.

Who Should Install And Maintain Your Fire Doors?

One word answers that question: experts. 

It is absolutely crucial for the safety of the occupants of your building, and to ensure damage limitation on the building itself that your fire doors are installed and maintained only by experienced experts. 

This is essential in making sure that your fire doors perform as intended in the event of a fire. Even the slightest alteration to a door and its components can affect its performance, making it unfit for purpose. It is for this reason that fire doors should be checked regularly to ensure it functions properly according to its design standard. 

Our experts recommend that performance checks should be carried out at least every 6 months – although you should be aware that newly occupied buildings might require more frequent checks during the first year of use and, fire doors that are in more frequent use (in high-traffic areas such as corridors for example), should be checked more often than other fire doors in the building – weekly or monthly.

Don’t forget, it is a legal requirement that fire doors are correctly installed and adequately maintained to make sure that they meet their required criteria…

But what exactly is this criteria?

The Criteria Of A Fire Door

The criteria we are referring to relates to the fire door’s ability to resist fire and the spread of smoke.

The performance of the fire doors in your building is determined by the Building Regulation codes of practice and the doors need to be installed in accordance with those. 

A fire door’s performance is identified by the prefix FD on the door, which is then followed by an integrity rating in minutes – for example, ‘FD30’, which indicates a fire resistant door that is able to resist failure for 30 minutes. 

There are also fire doors that restrict the spread of ambient temperature smoke, and these are identified by the suffix ‘S’, so, for example: FD30S.

In order for a fire door to meet these criteria they are tested as a complete assembly. Each component must pass the test in order for the door to be considered fit for purpose in the event of a fire, including the pivots, hinges and glass. 

Why Should Your Fire Doors Be Maintained And Inspected?

It goes without saying that fire doors which are in use everyday are going to undergo a certain amount of unavoidable wear and tear. Slight alterations to the door and its surroundings are bound to occur over time, and this can affect the performance of the door in the event of a fire. 

Therefore it makes sense that regular inspections are going to be needed in order to identify any defects, and potentially maintenance work will need to be carried out by a competent expert.

It’s a fact that fire doors can often be neglected, and when you consider that a recent survey discovered that a lack of suitable fire doors was the second most common charge in over 100 cases brought by enforcing authorities under the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005, it begs the question, ‘why?’

For those whose knowledge of fire doors really doesn’t go beyond, ‘I know It’s a legal requirement to have them in this building’, it could simply be a case of, ‘we have them installed, end of.’ 

But it’s important to remember that a fire door isn’t just a door. Every component of a fire door’s hardware (sometimes called door furniture or ironmongery) can affect the performance of the door, and so every inch of it needs to be correct, reliable, and properly maintained. This doesn’t just include the leaf, frame and any glass panels, but also:

• The pivots and hinges that are vital to stop the door from bowing in the heat of a fire

• The fire door’s closing device that ensures the door not only shuts reliably, but stays shut – doing its job when needed

• Latches or locks that prevent unauthorised use

Hardware malfunctions can and do happen, mainly when poor quality or unsuitable fire doors have been purchased and installed – perhaps if the owner of a building has foolishly decided to choose cost and aesthetics over practicality and reliability. 

Fire doors, including all of the associated hardware and components must be in good working order at all times, and with them being opened and closed, possibly hundreds of times a day, it’s no wonder that deterioration of their rire-resisting performance can become compromised quite rapidly! 

This could be in the form of damage to the leaf itself or the parts that make up its assembly, or simple wear and tear causing a reduction in the effectiveness of the door’s fixings.

You can see, then, why it’s so important that your fire doors aren’t just installed by experts, but are regularly maintained, and repaired if necessary, to a satisfactory standard. 

If your building has a lot of fire doors and don’t all have the same inspection schedule then we recommend creating a fire door register that holds all of the information regarding installation dates, components required, what maintenance has been undertaken and when, and when checks are needed. This will prevent you from missing any vital inspections and protect you in the case of any investigations or legal action! 

Remember that it’s not enough for you see that the door opens and closes fine and leave it at that – a fire door inspection is a comprehensive job that includes checking for things you might not even consider, such as making sure that the gap between the frame and door is the correct size, that the smoke seal is in place and undamaged, that the air transfer grille isn’t blocked – even that the signage on the leaf of the door is correct.

So, let’s say that an inspection has uncovered a problem with one of your fire doors and it needs to be repaired. Of course this needs to be done as soon as possible, but it’s just as important to have the correct components and materials for the job. It might seem like we’re stating the obvious, but if you try to make repairs with components that aren’t compatible with the fire door, its performance in the event of a fire is seriously compromised. If you don’t use specialist components as specified by the fire door manufacturer, the fire certification of your door will be invalid. 

Fire door installation, checks and maintenance are not trivial things that can be left to chance – they are vital legal obligations for those responsible for buildings that have them. Make sure your fire doors are properly installed, checked and maintained regularly in order to provide maximum protection and perform as they should. 

Lives will depend on it.