Guest blog – Paul Conway, YUNO
Guest blog written by Paul Conway, Founder and CEO of YUNO
Just like any other passive fire protection system, it is essential for a fire door to perform as intended in the event of a fire. Any slight alteration to the door or its surroundings can affect the performance. As such, a fire door should be regularly checked to ensure it functions correctly and will perform to its designed standard in the event of a fire.
Periodic checks should be carried out at least once every six months.
For buildings over 11 metres in height the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 call for the responsible person to use best endeavours to undertake checks of fire doors at the entrances of individual domestic premises in the building at least every twelve months. They must also undertake checks of any fire doors in communal areas of the building at least every three months. These checks must include ensuring that the self–closing devices for the doors are working.
Article 17 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO/FSO) makes it a legal requirement to ensure that fire resisting doors and escape doors are correctly installed and adequately maintained in order for them to be fit for purpose.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, often referred to as the RRO or FSO, applies to all buildings other than domestic housing, and replaces 118 pieces of previous fire legislation, including the old fire certificate. The law now shifts responsibility from the fire authorities for fire safety to whoever has day-to-day control of premises.
The authorities have the power to enforce the RRO/FSO and do prosecute or even close buildings down where breaches are discovered.
Everyday use of fire doors can result in slight alterations to the door and its surroundings, and this can affect the performance of the door in the event of a fire.
Regular inspections by a competent person, as previously discussed, will ensure the identification of any defects to the fire door that need to be addressed through maintenance.
Please do get in touch if this is of interest – either contact the team at Viewber or I can point you in the right direction.
paul@goyuno.com
