FIRE SAFETY
Compliant and credible To ensure that fire doors and all of the associated components – including architraves, thresholds, hinges, filler, and adhesive – are all fire-safety compliant, Intastop would recommend that specialist advice is sought. This ensures the supply of compliant products, which will then ensure credibility when submitted for fire door safety testing – a procedure that is not yet covered by its own legislation, but that remains of critical importance in our public access buildings. This also minimises the very real risk that insurers fail to support claims if fire doors are not compliant and certified.
The school of thought that Intastop believes should be adopted is that it is the components of the door that should be certified, not just the door. This ensures that each and every part of the doorset is compliant and credible, and will deliver reliable performance when challenged. All credible fire doors are subject to evaluation by a UKAS-approved test facility, and will be accredited to BS476 part 22 or EN 1634-1. It is also worth being aware that under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the responsibility for maintaining fire safety in non-domestic buildings is attributed to the designated responsible person, and, as such, while there is no minimum legal standard to achieve in terms of certification, there is a legal standard to achieve responsibility-wise.
done, a robust education and training programme should be developed and delivered that engages staff as to the significant part they play in delivering fire safety plans.
Fitted with intumescent fire and smoke seals which are ‘vandal-resistant, yet easy to replace’, Intastop‘s PVC-u Door Edge Guards can be used on the front and back edges of fire- resisting doorsets.
Let’s face it, while in the past fire doors may have been a significant area of neglect, the future has no place for such an approach.
What can you do?
As facilities managers, specifiers, and maintenance engineers, there is much that can be done to raise standards, and to drive awareness and education, not least via the testing and certification process. Specifying doorsets that meet the required standards, and that have been certified to the highest levels, also ensures that users of the doors are able to guarantee that their records are correct and fully traceable. In addition, just as Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust has
Challenges still facing the healthcare sector include a reluctance in some circles to move away from existing fire door suppliers that have not kept pace with the new levels of safety, and the fact that not all staff involved in patient care appreciate how important properly specifying, installing, and maintaining, fire doors is to overall fire safety strategy.
Product development and performance
Intastop’s range of products form key parts of doorsets that provide the highest levels of protection, and have achieved the highest levels of certification. Our range of hinges, vision panels, door edge guards, and door protection products, all have appropriate fire testing and certification, and the Intastop team is proud that its products are entirely fit for purpose. Fire door safety is a subject that continues to be of critical importance to the team, and the company will continue to educate on, develop, and promote, the importance of installing and maintaining certified fire door sets. To this end, we hope that, together, we can make all public use buildings in the UK safer places to be.
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THE NETWORK | JULY 2019
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