Fire Door Safety

All you need to know about Fire Doors

It is required by law that all buildings are fitted with Fire Safety Doors. These doors have two functions; to delay the spread of fire from one room to another and to act as an escape route, letting people out of the building.

The location of the door, effects the design specification required. Some fire safety doors are only needed to delay fire passing through, whereas others stop fire and smoke. A well designed fire door that is compliant with EU regulations will be able to do both of these functions.

Fitting the Fire Doors

Fire Doors are strong and heavy as they are required to withstand the intense conditions of a fire. Being so heavy means the doors must be fitted using specially designed Fire Door Hinges.

Fire door hinges require the use of Intumescent Pads, and a fire door that will burn for 60 minutes is required, by safety regulations to use 2 pads. A door which will burn for 30 minutes only requires one pad per hinge. In the event of a fire, the Intumescent Pads expand to fill the trunking space and prevent the passage of fire and smoke.

Maintenance of fire Doors

Fire Doors are designed to save lives in the event of a fire. They act as a barrier to smoke and fire, delaying the fire from entering the next room. It is important that fire doors are regularly inspected and maintained to ensure they are in full working order.

There are things you can do to check the maintenance of your fire doors:

• Ensure nothing is obstructing the door from closing.
• Ensure smoke seals are correctly fitted and undamaged
• Ensure the CE fire door hinges are oiled and working well.
• Replace any damaged or worn components such as handles, push and pull signs, hinges etc.
• Replaced items should meet the exact specification of the item they are replacing and ensure you replace hinges etc. which are suitable for use on Fire Doors only.

Stay safe in the event of a fire

Fire Doors are an essential component in the Health and Safety of you and your staff. Some extra points to consider are:

1. Ensure your staff know where the meeting point is in the event of a fire
2. Staff should sign in and out, even if just popping for lunch – this ensures no one is forgotten about when counting staff.
3. Fire doors must stay closed; ensure on an evening they are not propped open, they are designed to stay closed to save lives.
4. Carry out practice fire drills to ensure everyone knows what to do in case of a fire, if it happens for real, it’s not a rehearsal and everyone must know where to go and most importantly, how to get out.

Following these hints and tips will ensure your Fire Doors are compliant with regulations and that they are in working order when needed the most. Keeping yourself and staff safe will ensure no accidents happen and that everyone knows what to do in the event of a fire.

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