FACILITIES MANAGEMENT Opening the door to a new era of fire safety?
Heralded as the biggest shakeup to fire safety protection in decades, the eagerly awaited Fire Regulations (2022) England comes into effect on 23 January 2023. As implementation kicks off, Iain Macmillan, team leader of certification & compliance at JELD- WEN, considers the impact these reforms will have on the industry and whether it goes far enough to improve safety standards for all
F
ire doors are a vital component of any fire safety strategy; when designed, tested, manufactured and installed correctly, they can help to save lives. Bringing this into even sharper focus, is the
rollout of new regulations coming into force this month (January 2023), which will hold landlords, property managers, contractors and installers to a greater level of accountability in protecting their occupants from the risk of fire. Historically, although the installation of fire doors is a legal requirement in all commercial and social housing properties, government input has largely ended at the point of fitting. There are no stipulations under current regulations for formal training or qualification when it comes to fire door installation, making it possible for those without the appropriate level of competence to fit what is a specialist item.
Despite manufacturers going the extra mile to ensure they are offering the highest degree of performance and protection through third-party certification and testing, a lack of knowledge further down the supply chain could mean that even the most well-designed fire door may be exposed to potential issues, and fire safety compromised.
Regulatory reform
Following recommendations from the Grenfell Inquiry, the fire safety agenda has continued to come under closer scrutiny, leading the government to introduce more stringent measures that aim to address some of the gaps found within the UK’s existing fire safety policies - specifically in relation to fire doors. This includes the introduction of the Fire Safety Act 2021 in May of last year, which reduces ambiguity in the Fire Safety Order, by placing a legal duty on a named ‘Responsible Person’ to carry out fire risk assessments in workplaces, commercial buildings and non-domestic parts of multi-occupied residential buildings. As of 23 January, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 will see Responsible Persons for multi-occupied residential buildings in England with storeys over 11m acquire further responsibilities, including periodic checks on fire doors and flat entrance doors, and providing residents with information to highlight the importance of fire doors to the building’s safety. Meanwhile, the UK awaits the arrival of the Building Safety Act, which is due to come into effect later this year. An appointed ‘Accountable Person’ (AP) will assume legal responsibility for ensuring that any potential safety risks to high rise residential buildings (18m and above, or at least seven storeys) are managed and mitigated, whilst effectively reducing the severity of an incident,
should it occur. To ensure all matters are taken seriously, the AP will also have an obligation to engage residents and listen to their concerns. Responsible and Accountable Persons have an important legal duty, and education is key to not only meeting the latest fire safety standards, but also to reassuring tenants. A recent survey undertaken by JELD-WEN, found that only 30% of people living in social housing feel assured that their home is sufficiently protected against the threat of a fire. With this in mind, the onus is on building, facilities and safety managers to become well-versed in what the latest regulations mean, and what their responsibilities are. Establishing and maintaining open lines of communication with occupiers is also really important.
But is it enough?
Whilst the new reforms are welcome, further action and clarity is necessary to shut the door on risk, which lies at every stage of the build lifecycle – from design, to occupation, management and refurbishment.
For example, whilst the government points towards a ‘golden thread’ of information as a tool that looks to improve safety management, the current regulation fails to stipulate any parameters on how fire safety information relevant to a property or building should be stored, updated and shared.
Even amid the increasing pace of digitalisation in other areas of industry, there is still scope to introduce a mandatory standard that outlines where fire safety information should be held, and what the best practice should be on keeping it up to date. This will ensure all involved parties have access to a digital trail of readily available data about the products and procedures that look to minimise the risk to a given property. In the case of fire doors, this would extend beyond the traceability typically afforded by the certification process to include details of specification, installation, management and maintenance.
Done well, we believe this could help to achieve greater transparency and accountability to transform modern fire door practice, ensuring stakeholders have the ability to trace the origin of a problem more effectively, to take the necessary corrective action and inform best practice going forward. Most leading manufacturers, such as JELD- WEN, already use third-party UKAS-endorsed accreditation schemes to independently certify that their fire doors are fully-compliant and fit for purpose. However, to achieve consistency across the board, we think this should be made a legal requirement, and that every fire door in the UK should be marked with its performance and the name of the manufacturer. We would also recommend additional steps to ensure that all fire door installations and maintenance work are conducted correctly, to ensure every fire door can perform as intended.
Beyond compliance
The latest regulatory drive may have helped to put fire door safety at the forefront; however it is likely that ensuring absolute best practice will require industry to go beyond compliance and strive to do more. With this, it becomes crucial that building operators stay abreast of the latest developments in fire door manufacture, certification, installation and inspection, and consider new ways to not just elevate standards, but to do even better. Of course, this will not be an easy feat and will most likely require time, investment and careful consideration from all links in the fire safety chain. However, as the fire door safety category continues to evolve in complexity and maintenance, the added piece of mind this can bring is priceless.
JELD-WEN’s white paper, ‘Fire Safety: Time to Shut the Door on Risk’, is available for free to download via:
https://www.jeld-wen.co.uk/fire- safety-white-paper.
12 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER JANUARY 2023 Read the latest at:
www.bsee.co.uk
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