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Rob Ratcliff was the Content and Community Manager of IFSEC Global.com. He is a self-confessed everyman in the world of security and fire, keen to learn from the global community of experts who have been a part of IFSEC for 40 years now.
October 17, 2013

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Fire Door Safety Week Is ‘Roaring Success’

The organisers of the inaugural Fire Door Safety Week last month have hailed the initiative a “huge success” after the campaign reached an estimated 6.5 million people.

The campaign was supported by the Fire Minister, Brandon Lewis, while a local radio campaign reached an estimated 2.7 million listeners across all English regions. The Twitter campaign meanwhile generated almost 2 million impressions, which in turn lead to over 1,600 views of a video which reveals the sorry state of hospital fire doors.

The campaign aimed to raise awareness about the importance of correct installation and maintenance of fire doors, and was organised by the British Woodworking Foundation (BWF) and BWF-Certifire Scheme. Fire Minister Lewis met with representatives of both organisations to discuss the importance of fire doors and later said:

I am pleased that the BWF is proactively working to raise awareness of an important area of fire safety through non-regulatory routes. We welcome all positive interventions that promote particular fire safety messages with relevant audiences to help reduce the devastating impact that fire can cause.

However, despite the successes of the week, BWF chief executive Iain Mcilwee emphasised that the challenge of improving fire door safety was in no way complete. He said in a statement on Tuesday:

A recent survey among fire risk assessors revealed that 80% of the escape routes they saw were obstructed, 65% of fire doors were wedged open and 85% had door closers disconnected.

With a challenge of this scale, one thing is certain — Fire Door Safety Week will return next year.

Check out our gallery of bad fire doors in high-rise housing blocks in Stoke-on-Trent.

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JonathanL
JonathanL
October 18, 2013 11:14 am

The article points outs that there are many incidents where fire doors are obstructed but I would say there are just as many incidents where the fire doors are perfectly fine its the escape route that is either undersized or obstructed.  

ITs_Hazel
ITs_Hazel
October 19, 2013 5:49 am
Reply to  JonathanL

You’re right, Jonathan. Incidents of both cases exist, and I’d say they are all one too many. However, I am glad that events like Fire Door Safety Week is bringing awareness to at least one of the concerns.

Rob Ratcliff
Rob Ratcliff
October 21, 2013 12:36 pm
Reply to  JonathanL

Sensible siting of fire exits (ie. not somewhere liable to blocking by vehicles) has to be used here as well as regular checks of escape routes by fire marshalls in a building. You’re right, that this too often doesn’t happen.

Rob Ratcliff
Rob Ratcliff
October 22, 2013 11:43 am
Reply to  ITs_Hazel

‘don’t block fire exits week’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it?

SunitaT
SunitaT
October 25, 2013 1:18 pm

A campaign has been ongoing on how to be able to correctly install and maintain the fire exit doors especially in places prone to the risks of fire. This is very essential in the industries or companies that use electricity and other fire gadgets in the running of their business. One is supposed to understand the dangers associated with inappropriate installations of fire exit doors and the severe damage they may often put on the employees or their own lives while at work. This is the reason such awareness has been put forward to curb this problem.
 

Sheh
Sheh
October 26, 2013 7:31 am
Reply to  Rob Ratcliff

I think you are right. I feel that there are other aaspacts need to be taken care of than siting and routes. I think proper detailing of manpower that is to use that particular door in case of emergengy. Most of the time we have seen that in panic people usually rush towards closest exit and it got blocked. If we colud devise a plan about who is to exit where we can solve half of our problem.

Sheh
Sheh
October 26, 2013 7:34 am
Reply to  Rob Ratcliff

recently I have gone through an incident report where findings were made and blame was made on having less number of fire exit doors in proportion to the workforce working at a particular time. I think this aspect also needs to be taken care of.

Rob Ratcliff
Rob Ratcliff
October 28, 2013 7:37 am
Reply to  Sheh

Absolutely. There are rules of thumb as to how many exits you need and of what size for the amount of people you have in a building. I can’t remember what the approx recommendations are, but I’m sure it’s all out there in the building regs etc.

Rob Ratcliff
Rob Ratcliff
October 28, 2013 7:41 am
Reply to  SunitaT

Are there businesses that don’t use electricity, or have I mis-read that?

Rob Ratcliff
Rob Ratcliff
October 28, 2013 7:44 am
Reply to  Sheh

Yes, well that’s where fire drills come in. There’s a very good reason why you should carry these out regularly, and dealing with panicked exits is a good one. The problem I think you’re referring to is the fact that in an emergency people tend to head for the exit they came in through. This is quite common, and fire drills as well as proper signage to the nearest fire exit are the best way around this, I’d say. That, and perhaps a calm and patient fire marshall. The last thing you need is someone shouting ‘RUN!’ and causing a… Read more »

batye
batye
November 1, 2013 12:46 pm
Reply to  Rob Ratcliff

Rob, I could not agree more proper training and fire drills is a must, as during emergency… it better be prepared…