Fire Doors – What You Need to Know

Fire Door ComplianceFire Risk Assessment
Written By Rob Whitcomb

A fire door is an absolutely critical safety feature of any building in which people work or visit including sleeping accommodation (hotels, HMO, student accommodation etc), as they act as a barrier to the spread of fire, heat, and smoke, limiting its effect whilst allowing enough time for occupants to evacuate to a place of safety.

Please see below a short guide to fire door regulations which will help you to keep you, your staff, visitors, and your business safe.

  • Buildings are compartmentalised to delay the spread of fire from one area to another. A fire door is a sealed safety barrier between compartments. A well-designed timber fire door will delay the spread of fire and smoke without causing too much hindrance to the movement of people and goods.

  • For commercial or non-domestic properties, liability lies with whoever is deemed the ‘responsible person’ for that property or the employer. For example, the owner of the property, or the person in control of the property for trade reasons would be responsible. You can be a responsible person if you are: A business owner, Landlord, Facilities manager, Employee, Risk assessor, Building manager.

  • A thorough fire risk assessment must be carried out and it is advisable to get professional help with all fire safety-related regulations.

 

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 For Existing Buildings

According to Regulation 38, these checks should be carried out on all fire doors in the building every six months – or if the building is especially busy, every three months. Everything must be logged, including the time and date, details of the work carried out, and the results of the inspection.

 

Is Your Door A Fire Door:

The term ‘fire door’ usually refers to a fire door leaf, the main component of a fire door assembly or door-set.

  • The door leaf is installed into a fire-rated frame complete with essential ironmongery – which assist the door to continually comply.

  • Older panel doors, especially if less then 44mm thick, are unlikely to be FD30.

  • Hollow flush doors using egg box or similar construction will not be FD30. This can be detected by the weight of the door because fire doors are much heavier than a hollow door.

  • To check the weight of a door, instead of removing it, you can detach the self-closer and swing the door between your thumb and index finger. This gives a good indication of the weight of the door. Hollow doors are reasonably easy to detect using this method.

  • The door is tested as a complete assembly or door-set, and can only work correctly if installed using the same compatible components as when it was tested.

SWL services - Fire Compliance

Whether you are looking for advice on fire safety, compliance issues or a fire risk assessment, we can assist you at any level. We have excess of 20 years fire rated experience offering a full range of specialist services. Our expertise includes fire risk assessments, fire door servicing, fire compartment inspections, fire warden training, fire extinguisher servicing, emergency lighting testing, fire alarm servicing, metal fire escape staircase servicing with competent engineers available to complete all remedials.

Contact us

 
Rob Whitcomb
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