Fire Door Inspection
Fire doors have a vital role to play in delaying the spread of fire and smoke, thereby supporting life safety and property damage risk control strategies.
Why you NEED Fire Door Inspections
Fire doors play a pivotal role in ensuring the overall safety within your building. Therefore, it is incredibly important that they are properly maintained throughout their use, helping to assure the ongoing safety of all occupants within the building.
As with any similar life-saving device or equipment, a fire door should be regularly checked to ensure that it functions properly and is fit for purpose and ready for use.
Fire doors are often overlooked but they should be treated just as seriously as any other fire safety equipment testing the battery of a smoke alarm or having the pressure of a fire extinguisher checked regularly.
As stated by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA):
In addition to the annual inspection and testing of fire door
assemblies, it is the facility manager’s responsibility to retain
records — in either hard copy or digital form.
Did you know?
In most cases, fire doors throughout the building should have a minimum of 30 minutes fire resistance.
Data on over 100,000 inspections shows 75% of fire doors fail to meet safety standards.
What do Fire Door Inspections involve?
Routine maintenance of vital parts of fire doors, such as safety devices and fire door controls help ensure that doors are in full working order and help prolong the life of your doors. Also helping identify parts that are worn or damaged, which may later cause the door to fail assessment for the building.
If there is even just one element to the door that is not properly maintained or out of place, this could have an adverse effect on how that door performs in the event of a fire.
Therefore, Fire doors should always be regularly inspected for damage that may prevent the door from performing when required to. This may well form in conjunction with and as part of the general risk assessment for the building.
Five Step Fire Door Check
-
Check for Certification (Fire-rated door label)
-
Check for door apertures
-
Check the gaps and seals around the door frame
-
Check the door closures are working properly
-
Check the door operation
The Fire Door is a crucial safety barrier
Fire doors should always be regularly inspected for damage that may prevent the door from performing when required to. This may well form in conjunction with, and as part of, the general risk assessment for the overall building.
How often should Fire Doors be professionally inspected?
-
Periodic checks should be carried out at least once every 3 months
-
Newly occupied buildings may require more frequent checks in the first year of use
-
Doors where traffic is high are likely to be more susceptible to damage and should be checked more frequently than other doors in the building
Why you should use Protest ES Ltd fire safety experts
Protest ES Ltd fire experts are BRE and BM TRADA certified.
Our DBS checked and qualified technicians will provide assurance that every aspect of your building’s fire doors are functioning in accordance with fire regulations.
Just some of the clients that we've worked with
Every new site is a new exciting challenge for us to gain valuable experience from.
Celebrating over 20 years of excellence within the electrical compliance and fire safety industries.
Want to know more? Get in touch now!