Fire doors are designed to stop the spread of a fire by stopping the flames from reaching other areas of the building, giving people time to safely evacuate. Fire doors are also a key element of passive fire protection within your building, helping to create fire compartments. Escape routes in buildings such as care homes, schools and hotels require significant protection; fire doors are the single most important element in giving occupants time to safely evacuate the building.
As fire doors are such a key safety device we have made sure to achieve a range of key accreditations to instil confidence in our services. Our accreditations include, FIRAS, SafeContractor, ISO 45001, amongst others. We are also members of the British Fire Services Association and our fire safety services are headed up by our director Luke, alongside John Boyton, an ex-firefighter with over 30 years of experience including watch manager.
Our fire safety team are based across the UK so wherever you’re based, we can visit and inspect your doors. Our team is on hand 24/7 to minimise disruptions and fit around your needs, which has proven ideal for schools and offices. We are experienced in inspecting fire doors across a range of sectors, including:
Our inspectors are DBS checked so there’s no hold up to inspecting your premises.
Fire doors are typically rated for 30 or 60 minutes to allow people to safely evacuate a building. However, there are higher ratings, up to 240 minutes, which are primarily designed to preserve property that can’t be removed from the building during a fire, such as computing equipment or file storage. Our fire door inspection team can inspect the full range of fire doors.
A fire door is not just the door itself. It is a complete assembly comprising the frame, any glazing, intumescent and smoke seals and all the ironmongery that is used on the door, such as hinges, overhead door closers, latches and locks.
Fire doors need to be regularly inspected to make sure they haven’t been damaged or modified in a way that affects their fire rating. At FIT our fire safety experts will come to your premises and run through a full safety check of each fire door to make sure that the fire rating has been maintained and that in the event of an emergency, everything functions as it should.
Currently, Article 17 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO/FSO) states that fire doors should be correctly installed and adequately maintained in order for them to be fit for purpose.
However, the rules are set to change on the 23rd of January 2023 and will make it a legal requirement for multi-occupied residential buildings in England with storeys over 11 metres in height to:
We recommend that fire doors should be inspected at least every 3 months however, this will differ depending on the building and occupants. We recommend more regular checks for the following:
When you contact our fire safety team, we will be able to advise the inspection period required for your building, and we can adjust this schedule based on the condition of your doors on each visit.
During a fire door inspection, we look at all parts of the fire door, not just the door itself.
A comprehensive visual inspection of each fire-resisting door set, including:
Once the inspection has been completed, the fire door will either be marked as a pass or fail. Any fire doors that fail the inspection will have photographic and written evidence of the issues as well as the steps required to make them compliant. Our fire door inspectors are able to make remedial fixes, such as adding missing intumescent strips and replacing cold smoke seals while on site, keeping your building and staff safe. When larger repairs are required, our fire door maintenance team can come and bring your fire doors back to standard.
Following our fire door inspections we will provide you with a full set of documents to show that your fire doors have been inspected by a competent, responsible person.
These documents include:
When inspecting fire doors, we tend to see the same common faults. These issues are well worth checking on a more regular basis rather than waiting until your next inspection flags these issues.
If you’re ever unsure about the state of your fire doors we recommend booking an inspection as soon as possible.
On the 23rd of January 2023, the updated Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 will take effect. This will make it a legal requirement for responsible persons for all multi-occupied residential buildings in England over 11 metres in height to:
undertake quarterly checks of all fire doors (including self-closing devices) in the common parts.
undertake – on a best endeavour basis – annual checks of all flat entrance doors (including self-closing devices) that lead onto a building’s common parts.
The regulations will also require the responsible person to provide residents of all multi-occupied residential buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises (that have common parts, for example, flats, student accommodation and HMO’s) information on the importance of fire doors to a building’s fire safety. This applies to multi-occupied buildings of all heights.
These changes have come about because of the Grenfell Tower inquiry, where the fire doors did not perform as they should have done.
These new regulations do not replace the existing duty for a responsible person to ensure general fire precautions are taken in any premises covered by the Fire Safety Order, regardless of the building’s height.
The Fire Safety Act 2021 has also clarified that any residential building, which contains two or more sets of domestic premises, are within the scope of the Fire Safety Order.
Responsible persons for residential buildings below 11 metres in height have a duty to put in place general fire precautions in these buildings; this duty includes making sure that all fire doors – including flat entrance doors – are capable of providing adequate protection.
Responsible persons will also be required to provide residents in all residential buildings, with two or more sets of domestic premises, with information on fire doors. This includes buildings such as HMO’s and student accommodation.
Fire doors can continue to be inspected by a responsible person rather than a specialist like ourselves however we always recommend a third-party expert is used. When it comes to fire safety cutting corners can cost lives and close businesses, especially if insurance is voided.
Just like other life safety devices, such as fire extinguishers and alarms, fire doors and final escape doors need periodic inspection and maintenance to ensure that they will perform as intended in a fire situation. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order places this obligation with the responsible person and for life safety devices it is prudent to seek advice from a competent person.
During a fire door inspection, our technicians inspect each component of the fire door
assembly, including:
Once the inspection has been passed our technician will produce a certificate that states when your doors were inspected, what was inspected and that they’ve passed.
Download our Fire Doors Leaflet
Fire doors are designed to slow the spread of fire throughout a building, giving people time to safely evacuate. Fire doors need to be regularly inspected as they are one of the few fire safety measures that people come into contact with on a daily basis and this wear and tear can cause the door to malfunction in an emergency.
New legislation coming into effect on the 23rd of January 2023 also makes it a legal requirement for fire doors to be inspected every quarter in residential buildings over 11 meters.
Fire door legislation is changing on the 23rd of January 2023 after the outcome of the Grenfell inquiry. The changes are:
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