Fire doors are specifically designed to withstand fire for up to 30 minutes and, in some circumstances, even longer, depending on the engineering approach taken to a building. They are a legal requirement for flats that open onto communal areas shared with other tenants. This ensures that crucial escape routes are protected if a fire breaks out. They are designed to automatically close behind you in the event of a fire, holding flames back and stopping the spread of the fire and toxic smoke into escape routes, corridors, and other flats in the block.
If you are responsible for a property, you are likely required to take fire safety precautions to ensure the safety of the people who use it. This applies to almost all buildings, places, and structures, with the exception of individual private homes, such as individual flats in a block or family homes. Property managers’ responsibilities include shared areas in houses of multiple occupation (HMOs), blocks of flats, and maisonettes.
There are differences between modern fire doors and older “notional” fire doors. The older doors may not have intumescent strips and cold smoke seals, and they may be fitted into frames with a 1-inch door stop. However, if these older doors are still in good condition and not warped or gapped beyond repair, they can still serve their intended purpose. When replacing fire doors, it’s important to ensure that the new doors meet the necessary fire resistance requirements and are not replaced by ordinary doors.
How often do I need to get fire doors checked?
Just like any other passive fire protection system, a fire door must function as intended in the event of a fire. Even slight alterations to the door or its surroundings can impact its performance. Therefore, regular checks should be conducted to ensure that the fire door operates correctly and meets its designed standard during a fire.
These checks should be performed at least once every six months. However, newly occupied buildings may need more frequent checks in the first year. Additionally, if a fire door is heavily used, it should be checked more often than other doors in the building, such as once per week or month.
For buildings over 11 meters in height, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 require the responsible person to make best endeavours to inspect fire doors at the entrances of individual domestic premises in the building at least every twelve months. They must also inspect any fire doors in communal areas of the building at least every three months. These inspections must include checking that the self-closing devices for the doors are working.
Article 17 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO) states that it is a legal requirement to ensure that fire-resisting doors and escape doors are correctly installed and adequately maintained to be fit for purpose.
Please contact us today for more information or to schedule a fire door survey.
RM Risk Management
0121 236 0642
sales@test1.rmriskmanagement.co.uk