FOCUS
Pièce de résistance Fire doors have become national news since
revelations following the Grenfell Tower fire reinforced strong messages about this form of passive protection, says Mark Williams
on active protection and in particular the absence of a sprinkler system, rather than on whether the passive fi re protection had been right. However, that changed when the Metropolitan Police announced that its tests had found that fl at doors which were supposed to resist fi re for 30 minutes had, in fact, only been capable of resisting it for 15 minutes. At the time of writing, it is not clear if this
M
was a case of the wrong doors having been installed or whether the materials had not been capable of achieving their claimed fire rating. Either way, it was a worrying development. It also put renewed focus on the key role of doors and associated glazing in achieving the effective compartmentation that is crucial to restricting the spread of fi re in large buildings, providing time for safe evacuation and limiting the damage caused by a blaze. Checking and where necessary upgrading fire doors and glazing is a highly effective
44 MAY 2018
www.frmjournal.com
UCH OF the earlier coverage of fi re safety measures in the wake of the fatal blaze at Grenfell Tower focused
way of improving fi re safety and can be done for a much lower cost and with less disruption than installing new fi re suppression systems. However, all too often they are regarded as a low priority and little attention is paid to the installation and maintenance of fi re doors in commercial properties, public buildings and apartment blocks.
Fire door issues
Those tasked with responsibility for ensuring fire safety in commercial, public and large residential buildings, and compliance with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and Building Regulations Part B face two major issues with fire doors. They have to be correctly specifi ed and installed when the building is new, and then they have to be correctly maintained. Problems often start during the fit out
stage, particularly on large projects such as hospitals, university buildings and halls of residence. Installing fire doors is not usually a separate contract, with a specialist
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
