Fire Door Inspections Thetford and across Norfolk

The importance of fire door inspections and fire door maintenance cannot be understated, and is underwritten in key UK fire door regulations such as The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. Practical fire door inspection and maintenance help fire doors perform their central function, namely, helping stop or limit the spread of fire and smoke in the event of an emergency. As the Fire Protection Agency (FPA) explains, fire-rated doors have the potential to save lives by

• Allowing individuals to exit a space before it automatically closes.
• Protecting escape routes from the effects of fire—smoke, gases, and flames.
• Limiting the oxygen available to a fire, thus slowing or stopping its spread.

In the FPA’s words, fire doors are “engineered components” that are “designed to resist the spread of fire for a period of time, normally a minimum of 30 minutes” (in the case of FD30 fire doors; for FD60 fire doors, this extends to 60 minutes). This is due to the tight seal formed between a properly-installed fire door and its frame—something we guarantee as part of our fire door installation service at SAB Group.

Despite the clear health and legal imperatives supporting fire-rated doors and proper fire door inspection and maintenance, a survey conducted by the Fire Door Inspection Scheme (FDIS) in 2021 discovered 75% of over 100,000 UK fire doors failed to meet required standards. Not only does this endanger people’s lives, but it also suggests:

1. Widespread misunderstanding of the importance of fire-rated doors, fire door inspection, and fire door maintenance in the UK.
2. A lack of prioritisation of fire door inspections and maintenance, as well as proper fire door installation among UK businesses.

SAB Group helps businesses to align with UK fire regulations through proper fire doors inspections and fire door maintenance, as well as fire door installations. Contact us free today to discuss your business’s fire door safety.

Your business’s fire doors should be inspected on a monthly basis as part of your premises’ fire safety strategy. These checks are typically carried out by a facilities manager or a competent person, such as a fire warden or fire marshal. The goal of these monthly checks is to identify which fire door sets need fixing by a certified fire door specialist as part of routine fire door maintenance.

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 have made it legally necessary for Responsible Persons for all multi-occupied residential buildings in England (where the top storey is 11 metres above ground) to perform quarterly checks (minimum) on all fire doors in common areas, along with annual fire inspections on flat front doors.

Article 17 (1) of The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 clarifies that business premises, facilities, and equipment—including fire doors—must be “subject to a suitable system of maintenance and are maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.”

This imperative is upheld in The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, which “require regular [fire door] checks to ensure that self-closing devices are working and the fire doors including flat entrance doors are in efficient working order and in good repair.”

If your business’s fire doors are not properly and systematically maintained to the standards above by a competent third party, you will be in breach of UK statutory law. This could result in criminal proceedings against you under corporate liability in the event of a fire.

To avoid breaching the UK’s statutory laws around fire door safety, make sure:

1. You and the person responsible for your business’s fire door safety strategy thoroughly understand UK fire door regulations.
2. You both understand the duties required for effective fire door inspection and maintenance across the business’s property, including the specific actions required of the Responsible Person.

If you need help understanding the UK’s fire regulations and how they apply to your business, or you want help with fire door inspection or maintenance, get in touch with SAB Group today.

Supporting the alarming figure that over three-quarters of UK fire doors did not meet required standards in 2021, the Fire Door Inspection Scheme (FDIS) shared the four main reasons why these fire doors failed inspections. They were:

• Excessive gaps between the door and frame (77% of doors tested).
• Care and maintenance issues (54% of doors tested)
• Issues relating to smoke sealing (37% of doors tested).
• Improper installation (31% of doors tested).

The data also highlighted inspectors three main fire safety concerns as being:

• A lack of fire door maintenance.
• Poor knowledge of fire safety responsibilities.
• A weak understanding of fire doors’ role in keeping people safe by those responsible for building fire safety.

Other common fire door inspection failures are damaged or missing intumescent seals on internal doors, non-fire-rated fittings such as closers and letter boxes, and non-fire-rated glass. Along with the failure items listed above, fixing these issues is straightforward, leads to statutory compliance and cost savings, and can be decisive in preventing fires.