Fire doors save lives. They can also protect the contents of your building and provide a safe route of escape for staff members and customers.
In this guide, we’ll look at why fire doors are important for businesses. We’ll also discuss fire door grading and the latest fire door regulations your business needs to be aware of.
Why fire doors are important for businesses
In a business setting, fire doors are incredibly important. This is because they:
- Protect escape routes and help people evacuate safely
- Protect the building and its contents (this may also be an insurance requirement)
- Help firefighters extinguish a fire as safely as possible
All non-domestic buildings must have a protected escape route. Due to this, a fire door is a requirement if the doorway leads to a corridor or a staircase.
A fire door also helps to ‘compartmentalise’ a fire (this means to stop it spreading from one part of a building to another). As a result, fire doors are commonly used in high-risk areas such as kitchens, storage areas with combustible materials and boiler rooms.
Fire door grading
Fire doors are graded based on the protection they provide. The most common form of fire door is the FD30. This is designed to resist fire for a minimum of 30 minutes.
In some high-risk commercial settings, a FD60 is required instead. These doors are designed to resist fire for a minimum of 60 minutes. They also have seals for smoke resistance.
Although FD30 and FD60 are the most common types of fire door, FD20 and FD120 fire doors are also available.
The type of fire door you need will depend on a number of factors, such as the likelihood of a fire starting and whether the conditions in that room would support ignition.
Fire door regulations
Fire doors are a legal requirement in all non-domestic properties, such as commercial premises. As set out by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, building operators in England and Wales should appoint a ‘responsible person’ to manage their fire safety precautions. Their legal responsibilities include a duty to reduce the risk of fire spreading within the premises and to conduct a fire risk assessment.
As part of this, the responsible person must know the fire door regulations. They’re also responsible for deciding where fire doors should be used and what rating these doors should be.
Why check fire doors regularly
Fire doors are essential pieces of safety equipment. Much like a fire extinguisher or a fire alarm, you need to check your fire doors regularly to make sure they’re still fit for purpose.
It’s recommended that you check your fire door every six months. Any slight amount of damage can affect performance. So, if you think something is wrong, you should seek help immediately.
Looking for premium quality fire doors? Talk to our experts today. As leading commercial fire door experts, we deliver maintenance, installation and inspection services that prioritise fire safety compliance.
We work to BM Trada third party certified standards and our installations, manufacturing and maintenance are all BM Trada. This means we’re also Q-Mark system assured. We recommend this as a minimum standard when choosing your fire doors.