PASSIVE FIRE PROTECTION NEWS

Do you know your fire door facts?

Do you know your fire door facts?

Door-Stop, the UK’s leading composite door supplier, has launched a series of fact sheets helping to promote awareness around the correct certification, legal obligations and accurate installation of fire doors.  In an effort to help reduce safety hazards to tenants for poorly specified and/or installed fire doors, the fact sheets are also intended to prevent the risk of prosecution. 

On average there are over 174 building fires every day, yet despite this staggering figure, fire precaution does not appear to be top of mind for all building owners and installers.  Having launched its contemporary range of fire rated entrance door sets for flats and apartments in September, Door-Stop is now looking to raise awareness of the risks involved by not accurately specifying and installing fire doors.

Fire safety within the home is an extremely important issue, especially in mixed use premises and where unrelated occupiers, who live independently from one another, share common areas of the same building.  This area of law is covered by both the Housing Act 2004, as well as the Regulatory Reform, Fire Safety Order (FSO) 2005.

Building owners have a legal duty to comply with FSO; this places a duty on the responsible person to take general fire precautions to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of the people on the premises and in the immediate vicinity.  However, installers and specifiers also have a duty of care to ensure that they are sourcing reliable fire doors that can be guaranteed.

Martin Dickie, Business Development Director at Door-Stop said: “Even though a fire door’s correct specification, maintenance and management can be the difference between life and death for building occupants, they still remain a significant area of neglect.  Fire doors are often the first thing to be downgraded on a specification and mismanaged throughout their service life, propped open, damaged and badly maintained. 

“The aim of our fact sheets is to provide accurate and clear information on where installers and building owners stand in terms of what they should be specifying when it comes to fire doors.”   

The three practical fact sheets contain valuable advice and guidance on a host of areas: from the legal obligations and compliance with regulations, to key elements to consider for specification and fire door maintenance.  With checklists, web links to access further information and handy tips, Door-Stop’s fire door fact sheets provide a fundamental understanding to this serious area.   

To download the fact sheets please visit www.door-stop.co.uk/fire-doors

For more information on Door-Stop please visit www.door-stop.co.uk