Blog of Aaron J.: fire door safety

Showing posts with label fire door safety. Show all posts

Fire Door Safety Week 2016

A door’s a door’s a door, right? No, a fire door is an engineered safety device.

Fire doors are a crucial part of the passive fire protection of every commercial, public and multiple occupancy building. They save lives and property.

Fire doors are often the first line of defense in a fire and their correct specification, maintenance and management can be the difference between life and death for building occupants. However, they remain a significant area of neglect, often the first thing to be downgraded on a specification and mismanaged throughout their service life, propped open, damaged and badly maintained. UK based, BWF, created Fire Door Safety Week:

To raise awareness of the critical role of fire doors, drawing attention to specific issues such as poor installation and maintenance.
To encourage building owners and users to check the operation and condition of their fire doors and to report those that aren’t satisfactory.
To link together the initiatives of many organisations with common interests in the fire door and passive fire protection industries.
To engage and educate people, helping the whole building industry and every property owner to understand the correct specification, supply, installation, operation, inspection and maintenance of fire doors.

For updates, resources and events visit, www.firedoorsafetyweek.co.uk, follow Fire Door Safety Week on Twitter, and search for tweets with hashtag, #firedoorsafetyweek.

Fire Door Resources from TheCodeCoach.com:

Fire Door Resources

Here are some resources for fire door safety from TheCodeCoach.com:

In case you missed any of the weeks post for Fire Door Safety Week, you can access them all here:

#firedoorsafetyweek

www.firedoorsafetyweek.co.uk

5 Step Fire Door Check

Fire Door Safety Week is giving these tips for a 5 Step Fire Door Check that anyone can do:

Check for certification Is there a label or plug on top (or occasionally on the side) of the door to show it is a certificated fire door? You can use the selfie function on your camera phone or a mirror to check. If there is, that’s good news, otherwise report it to whoever is in charge of your building.
Check the gaps Check the gaps around the top and sides of the door are consistently less than 4mm when closed. You can use a £1 coin to give a feel for scale, this is about 3mm thick. The gap under the door can be slightly larger (up to 8mm is not uncommon), but if does depend on the door - as a rule of thumb, if you can see light under the door, the gap is likely to be too big. It’s good news if the door fits the frame and it’s not damaged. If not, report it. If the gaps are too big smoke and fire could travel through the cracks.
Check the seals Are there any intumescent seals around the door or frame, and are they intact with no sign of damage? These seals are usually vital to the fire door's performance, expanding if in contact with heat to ensure fire (and in some cases smoke) can’t move through the cracks. If not, report it - the door may not be properly maintained and in the intensity of a fire may not protect you long enough.
Check the hinges Are the hinges firmly fixed (three or more of them), with no missing or broken screws? If you see problems, report it - the door is obviously not properly maintained and in the intensity of a fire may not perform and hold back the fire for long enough.
Check the door closes properly Open the door about halfway, let go and allow it to close by itself. Does it close firmly onto the latch without sticking on the floor or the frame? If not, report it. A fire door only works when it’s closed. A fire door is completely useless if it’s wedged open or can’t close fully.

If you think the building you're living in, working in or visiting has a faulty fire door, don't walk by. Report it to whoever manages or owns the building. You could save a live that day.

#firedoorsafetyweek

www.firedoorsafetyweek.co.uk

Testing Fire Doors

This video shows three different doors tested under the same conditions.

Door A - incorrectly glazed
Door B - correctly glazed and installed
Door C - ordinary letter plate and no intumescent seals.

When installing/maintaining fire doors you MUST use 3rd-party certificated doors, frames, seals and ironmongery which are appropriate for the door leaf.

#firedoorsafetyweek

www.firedoorsafetyweek.co.uk

Fire Door Safety [INFOGRAPHIC]

http://releasd-images.s3.amazonaws.com/pdf/1441182673072.pdf

#firedoorsafetyweek

http://www.firedoorsafetyweek.co.uk/

Fire Door Safety Week 2015

Fire Door Safety Week is all about raising awareness of this critical element of fire safety in every commercial, public and multiple occupancy building.

This initiative aims to raise awareness of the critical role of fire doors, drawing attention to specific issues such as poor installation and maintenance, and encouraging building owners and users to check the operation and condition of their fire doors and to report those that aren’t satisfactory.

There are about 3 million new fire doors bought and installed every year. Fire doors are often the first line of defense in a fire and their correct specification, maintenance and management can be the difference between life and death for building occupants. However, they remain a significant area of neglect, often the first thing to be downgraded on a specification and mismanaged throughout their service life, propped open, damaged and badly maintained.

Consequently, Fire Door Safety Week seeks to engage and educate people, helping every property owner to understand the correct specification, supply, installation, operation, inspection and maintenance of fire doors.

For updates on the campaign and the many events scheduled throughout the week, follow Fire Door Safety Week on Twitter or search for tweets with hashtag #firedoorsafetyweek.

www.firedoorsafetyweek.co.uk