The 16th September sees the start of Fire Door Safety Week, which we support. Too often fire doors are overlooked as an important element of building safety, they have been designed into the building structure to provide suitable compartmentation in the event of a fire – they are an engineered safety device.

About 3 million fire doors are bought and installed in the UK every year, how do you ensure they are installed correctly?

Just because a fire door is fitted, it also does not mean that it should then be taken for granted. In a survey amongst fire risk assessors, it was found that 65% of fire doors were wedged open and 85% had the closers disconnected. Problems with fire doors were found to be the second largest reason for prosecutions under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

 

Daily checks of fire doors should be carried out to ensure that they are unobstructed, record these checks in your site log book.

Everyone can make a little effort  in relation to this issue, simply remove the  extinguisher, waste bin, vacuum cleaner or other item propping open the door, put a sign up advising staff not to prop the door again.

Ensure that the risk assessor you use is aware of the standards for fire doors ( CE marks on ironmongery).

For more information and advise, please contact us on 08700 566846.

Visit www.firedoorsafetyweek.co.uk