Arran Wright, workshop and training manager, underlines our support for Fire Door Safety Week.
Last week was Fire Door Safety Week. As a company involved in the supply of fire doors, is an initiative we naturally support.
This year, the organisers conducted a survey with local authorities. They found that 52% reported delays to planned fire door maintenance and replacement in the first half of 2020.
Not only that, but the figure rises to 60% if inspection delays are also factored in.
Crunching the numbers, it means that inspections or replacements to 16,580 fire doors didn’t happen. Put another way, 9,954 individual properties could be at risk.
Remember also that those figures only apply to social housing. There’s no reason to suppose that private sector housing will be any better.
Integrity
It’s an important issue because, at least pre-COVID-19, it’s estimated that about three million new fire doors are installed every year in the UK.
But as we repeatedly see, they are all too frequently incorrectly specified, installed or maintained. That means that their integrity can be compromised, reducing or removing their ability to protect lives.
In 2019, the Fire Door Inspection Scheme found that 76% of fire doors inspected were condemned as not fit for purpose. The main failings were excessive gaps, damaged smoke seals and poorly-adjusted door closers.
We design, fabricate and supply a complete range of integrity only or integrity and insulated doors, in single or double leaf format.
We were also the first company in the UK to introduce unlatched fire doors. That technical and design breakthrough was something that architects and specifiers had been wanting for years.
All our doors are tested to BS 476 Part 22 and certified for between 30 to 120 of resistance to fire or toxic smoke.
Training
As a responsible company, we also provide installation training at our fabrication facilities.
We recognise that the installation of fire doors requires different skills to ensure their absolute safety.
We simply don’t tolerate any compromise on safety, because compromise equals risk.
Fire Door Safety Week may have been and gone, but the issue of fire door safety isn’t one we should forget about.
Fire Door Safety Week is about getting rid of the legacy of fire door neglect, and educating everyone involved in their specification and installation.
That’s a priority for every week, not just for Fire Door Safety Week.
