BM TRADA has announced plans to stream a fire door test at one of the events being held during Fire Door Safety Week.Taking place on 17 September at the Building Centre in London, ‘Fire Door Sure?’ will also see BWF-CERTIFIRE launch a new best practice guide to selecting, installing, using and maintaining fire doors.
The 30-minute fire resistance test, which will be streamed at 11am (and you can register to view it online by emailing [email protected]), will demonstrate to responsible persons and installers alike how the very purpose of fire doors – to delay the spread of fire and smoke between rooms and thereby increase evacuation time – is undermined by shoddy specification and installation.
During the test two identical doors – one properly installed, the other flouting numerous areas of best practice – will be subjected to fire with furnace-level temperatures at BM TRADA’s High Wycombe testing laboratories.
The test will highlight how neglect of best practice in specification, installation or ongoing maintenance can impair a fire door’s fire resistance.
Full-size models of a fire door and glazing system that have undergone a similar test will also be displayed. Demonstrating the effectiveness of properly fitted fire doors one side of the door will be entirely untarnished despite the fire-exposed reverse side being severely charred.
BM TRADA, which is now part of the Exova Group, will have a team of technical experts on hand at the event to answer questions and offer advice to building owners, facilities managers, specifiers and installers.
“This is an excellent way to show just how important it is to correctly specify and fit fire doors,” said Graham Edwards, Group Marketing Manager at BM TRADA. “Anyone viewing the test will see the failure points very quickly.”
Organised by the British Woodworking Federation and supported by BM TRADA Fire Door Safety Week is now entering its third year.
The event, which covers a number of events taking place from 14 to 20 September, seeks to raise awareness of the importance of fire doors in saving both lives and property and to educate building owners and users in how to correctly install and maintain them.
Says Hannah Mansell, spokesperson for Fire Door Safety Week:
“The rates of fire deaths and casualties are reducing, but there are still an average of 25 fatalities or injuries from building fires every day.
“Fire doors are a crucial first line of defence in many of these fires, and yet they remain a significant area of neglect. Fire doors are often the first thing to be downgraded in a specification, mismanaged throughout their service life, propped open, damaged and badly maintained.”
“We want to see organisations and building owners in every sector pledge support to Fire Door Safety Week and take action today to check their fire doors.”
BM TRADA also holds a Fire Doors Explained CPD seminar, which provides an introduction to fire door regulations, construction, testing, installation and maintenance and includes a live fire door test.
Download the Fire Safety in 2023 eBook, keeping you up to date with the biggest news and prosecution stories from around the industry. Chapters include important updates such as the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and an overview of the new British Standard for the digital management of fire safety information.
Plus, we explore the growing risks of lithium-ion battery fires and hear from experts in disability evacuation and social housing.
