The BWF-Certifire scheme has been busy promoting the importance of specifying, installing and maintaining third party approved fire doors and doorsets for many years. With the introduction of the Fire Safety Order in 2006 highlighting issues around roles and responsibilities in fire safety, Richard Lambert describes the result as a ‘circle of responsibility’.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRO), which came into force in October 2006, has had a huge effect on fire safety, changing the rules about who is responsible for fire safety and, in some areas, causing uncertainty. Under the RRO, fire safety is now primarily the responsibility of the so-called ‘responsible person’ – usually the employer in a workplace, or the owner or person having control of the premises in other cases. Fire safety measures include both active and passive systems, including fire doors. However, research undertaken by the BWF-Certifire fire door and doorset scheme has identified a surprising lack of awareness and understanding of fire doors and how they work, even amongst those who have dealt with and checked them for many years.
Fire doors are one of the unsung heroes of fire safety because for most of their working lives, they work just like any other door. However, if a fire breaks out, a fire door must fulfill its role as an engineered safety device, with all its components working together for a specified time in order to hold back the spread of fire and smoke.
Unfortunately, those responsible for specifying, buying, installing or inspecting fire doors are not always aware that if the wrong components are used, the door cannot be relied upon to fulfill its performance requirement in the event of a fire. This lack of understanding, sometimes prompted by cost cutting, can lead to compromise and failure. Unfortunately, it is only when a fire breaks out that the potentially lethal consequences of compromise on specification and installation will really be known, often with devastating results.
If everyone involved in the specification, purchase, installation and inspection process recognised the potential consequences of their choices and actions, every fire door would do its job in protecting property and human life. Third party certification, involving independent testing and auditing, should be the minimum standard demanded for fire doors in every building.
Our ‘Circle of Responsibility’ is a neat way of describing the responsibility of specifying, installing and maintaining fire doors. The term is intended to alert all those involved in the process to the fact that they need to take responsibility with a definitive specification or recommendation right from the start. It’s all too easy for cost considerations, ignorance and quick fixes to override safety.
First stage
The circle starts turning when the owner of the building engages an architect to draw up the plans for the project and specify materials and products. At this stage, many building owners are unaware of the legislative requirements surrounding fire safety, and so the responsibility is swiftly passed on to the architect. While cost will always be a consideration, for an architect safety should always come first. At this point the architect can insist upon third party certificated fire doors, preventing decisions which might be based on cost, rather than safety, being taken further down the line. With a wide range of designs at competitive prices, there is no good reason not to set the standard by specifying a third party certificated product at this all-important stage in the decision making process.
If a clear and uncompromising decision is not made at the specification stage, the decision will be taken further down the line with contractors, held to a price for the job, inevitably looking for ways to cut costs. And if there is one area where cost cutting could have serious consequences, it is in the choice and purchase of fire safety measures and equipment, including fire doors. A lack of commitment to safety or ignorance of the available options can both play their part in breaking the circle of responsibility, with the emergency services all too often having to deal with the aftermath of a fire and the devastating consequences for both property and human life.
We want to reinforce the idea of a circle of responsibility which means that everyone is involved in ensuring that there is no compromise on fire doors. By specifying a third party certificated fire door right from the start, all the key players can be confident that the door installation will do its job. For us, this is an education process, working with architects, contractors, builders’ merchants, installers and facilities managers to increase their understanding of specification, supply, installation and maintenance.
Alteration
We recently received reports of a Vicaima fire door which had been altered on-site by adding a vision panel to the door. Luckily this was spotted by the local building control officers and reported to the manufacturer. Thanks to being part of the scheme, the manufacturer was able to prove that this work was not completed in its factory due to the absence of an approved label.
The potentially devastating consequences of this do not bear thinking about. Altering the door in this way invalidated the certificate, and the responsibility should anything have gone wrong would lie firmly at the feet of the contractor. We are working hard to eradicate these dangerous practices, and in this instance the building control officers averted a potential disaster by using the traceability information from the fire door label and playing their vital part in the circle of responsibility.
The final stage is with the employer, building owner or person in control of the premises taking charge of the building on completion. Maintenance of fire doors is vital in ensuring that they continue to be able to protect both lives and property in the event of a fire. The responsible person must implement and co-ordinate an inspection and maintenance regime to ensure that fire door installations continue to do their job correctly.
We publish various Fact Cards and other useful resources on our website. One of these is a hard-hitting educational film which highlights the role of fire doors and the consequences of installing sub-standard doors if a fire breaks out. This film has been viewed over 2000 times since the start of the year and provides advice and guidance on fire safety, whilst highlighting the potentially devastating effects of fire.
Richard Lambert is chief executive of the British Woodworking Federation which administers the BWF-Certifire fire door and doorset scheme. For more information visit www.bwf.org.uk/firedoors tel: 0844 209 2610 email [email protected]
