Fire doors are a key part of keeping occupants safe in a fire, giving them time to safely evacuate a building. They can also reduce damage caused by fire by slowing the spread across a building, giving time for emergency services to arrive.
With fire doors providing such an important, life-saving function trust the experts at FIT to keep you compliant and people safe. We hold a range of accreditations and memberships to instil confidence in our services, including ISO 45001, FIRAS, SafeContractor, Achilles UVDB Silver Plus and British Fire Services Association membership. Our fire division is overseen by our director Luke alongside John Boyton, an ex-firefighter with over 30 years of experience.
While fire doors might seem like any other regular door they are designed to slow the spread of a fire throughout a building, giving the occupants time to safely evacuate. With fire doors performing such a life-saving role it’s important to make sure that your fire doors have been installed correctly, by a competent professional. Not all builders, joiners or carpenters understand the installation and maintenance requirements of such a key piece of fire protection equipment.
When fitting a fire door there are several things that you need to pay extra attention to, as all of these parts need to work together to prevent the fire from spreading. The key areas that need to be installed correctly are:
If these are installed incorrectly or do not match the fire rating of the door being installed then your fire door may fail when you need it most. If you’re looking for peace of mind, get the experts at FIT to install your fire doors.
Fire doors are a critical part of your building fire safety strategy and with the range of different fire ratings, it can be difficult to understand which fire doors you need. As part of our fire door installation service, we can help you choose the right fire doors for your building while providing a range of styles for you to choose from. Once you’ve chosen your doors we can order them and then come and install them at a convenient time for you.
For those that want to purchase their own fire doors, there are two common fire ratings, FD30 and FD60 as well as more heavy-duty fire doors which are FD120 and FD240. Higher-rated doors are more commonly used for the preservation of property including data storage or document storage areas that can’t be removed during a fire.
There is also the FD30s standard which is designed to protect against smoke and other gases leaking between the door and the frame, as well as flames.
We are able to visit your premises during your quieter hours to avoid disruption to other occupants in your building such as employees, patients or students.
Our expert fitters also carry spares with them such as intumescent strips which are commonly forgotten when clients order their own fire doors to be installed. This means that 9 out of 10 times we can still fit your fire doors even if you’ve forgotten to add these to your order.
Fire doors require regular inspection and maintenance for any damage that could cause a malfunction in the door, in the event of a fire. Fire doors are the single most important element in giving occupants time to safely leave a building. Malfunction of a fire door costs lives. It is your legal responsibility to ensure that fire doors are properly maintained.
First Intervention Team’s dedicated fire door inspection teams provide clients with a full comprehensive report which covers all of the fire door elements in detail. Any issues discovered. that can’t be quickly rectified on-site, will be passed to the maintenance team.
There are lots of reasons a fire door could fail in an emergency which is why regular inspections and maintenance are so important. Some common things we find during our fire door inspections that can be resolved with fire door maintenance are:
We recommend inspecting the fire doors of non-residential buildings every 6 months at a minimum. However, in busy buildings such as hospitals and schools, we recommend this is done every 3 months. This ensures that any issues are caught and fixed before it’s too late.
While regular fire door maintenance seems like another cost for your business it can actually save you money in the long run. A well-maintained fire door will have a far longer life than one that’s neglected and needs replacing.
A fire door is not just the door leaf. It is a complete assembly comprising the frame, any glazing, intumescent fire and smoke seals and all the ironmongery that is used on the door, such as hinges, overhead door closers, latches and locks.
In January 2023 there will be an update to the legislation surrounding fire doors. The new legislation for fire doors in multi-occupied residential buildings in England with storeys over 11 metres in height includes:
The type of building you are responsible for and who occupies it will influence the frequency of fire door inspections required. Some buildings, such as schools and hospitals, are subject to heavy traffic and the doors have a hard time often being subject to repeated misuse.
With new legislation around the corner, multi-occupancy residential buildings over 11 meters will require fire doors in common areas to be checked quarterly and flat entrance doors annually.
The First intervention team’s expertise and professional experience is on hand to provide your business with best in class advice on your fire door inspection and maintenance schedule.
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