A correctly installed fire door remains fundamental to most fire safety strategies in buildings, despite overall technological advances in building fire safety.
The Regulations
Changes in regulations regarding fire safety came into force in 2006 following the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (England and Wales). Now, one of the legal duties of building occupiers is to appoint a ‘responsible person’ (defined in article 3) in virtually all types of building in England and Wales. Note: This person is referred to as the ‘Duty Holder’ in Scottish law and the ‘appropriate person’ in Northern Ireland.
The duty of the responsible person is to carry out the annual fire risk assessment and ensure the safety of anyone using their premises. These regulations acknowledge that it cannot be left to one person alone to be responsible for building fire safety. Alongside the duties of the ‘responsible person’ there are several articles which directly refer to the training and general duties of all employees at work.
Fire door safety
3 million fire doors are sold in the UK every year; however, there are concerns that a number of these are not fit for purpose - due to inadequate products, installation, repair and maintenance. These concerns have been raised in recent parliamentary debates (Westminster Hall debate, 3rd March 2015) and across the construction and property industry as a whole.
In recent years, there have been attempts to increase awareness to those responsible for specifying and maintaining fire doors in properties. The Fire Door Safety Week of 2014 was a crucial step towards increased awareness of fire door safety within the built environment. However, there is still much more that needs to be done. A recent report by BRE for a local authority indicated that "It was not possible to conclude that the fire doors would meet the required 30-minute fire resistance, due to a high level of defects". This is not uncommon and is shocking when such consequences are considered in a real fire situation.
Fire Research and training at BRE
As the world leading experts in fire research and training, BRE offers a range of fire related services. A recently released 30 second video demonstrates just some of the active research and testing work that goes on at BRE.
