Fire doors are a vital tool at work, protecting everyone in the building as well as any important equipment. But when they are faulty, the length of time for which they are able to withstand fire and toxic smoke can be shortened drastically.
A new survey from health and safety training provider CE Safety has investigated how knowledgeable UK workers are about fire doors and how to tell when they are in correct working order.
Fire doors should be inspected every six months to make sure they are operational. The Fire Door Inspection Scheme has revealed a worrying statistic: 75% of fire doors in Britain do not meet the required standards, and 31% of doors had been installed incorrectly in the first place, meaning that they were never able to offer adequate protection.
CE Safety spokesperson, Gary Ellis, comments:
“We were worried to see the amount of people who did not know important information about fire doors that could save lives. 34% of the office workers who took part in our survey did not know that fire doors should be kept closed (unless a self-closing mechanism or door release unit has been installed).
“There should always be a designated person who is responsible for checking the fire doors in any building or place of work, and making sure they are all in working order. However, ideally, everyone should know how fire doors should be kept when not in use, as well as common problems that can arise with them. The more people are aware, the faster any issues will get reported, meaning that the door can be mended or replaced as soon as possible.”
Fire door faults
1000 UK office workers were shown a list of fire door faults and asked to identify which were problems.
80% correctly noted that fire doors should not be wedged open, and should be kept closed.
Smoke causes more fire-related deaths than fire itself. There are three issues that would allow toxic smoke to travel through the door, as well as weakening the door itself. Cracked glass in the window was identified as an issue by 57% of respondents, and 43% said it would be a problem if the lock had been removed.
22% identified gaps around the door frame as an issue. 13% said that missing door screws would present a problem and 9% mentioned wear and tear marks on the door’s hinge. These are all issues that you should look out for in a fire door, as they all compromise its ability to prevent the spread of smoke and fire. Screws and hinges in fire doors need to be extremely strong to help the door withstand extreme heat.
Office workers’ experience of fire doors
The survey also asked respondents about their experience of fire doors at their place of work, identifying how much training they had been given when they started.
An alarmingly high 35% said they had not been shown the fire exit route at their workplace, ending with the final fire exit door that leads to a place of safety. In London, 47% gave this answer – but in Northern Ireland 91% had been shown, as had 78% in Scotland.
CE Safety also asked the office workers how fire doors were kept at their workplace. 41% said they had seen the fire door wedged or propped open – this is only safe if it is held open by a door release unit that will automatically close the door in the event of a fire alarm.
17% said they had seen a fire door at their workplace locked. As long as this refers to internal fire doors, this is not a point of concern. Fire doors that staff need to use a swipe card or fob to pass through should always have a manual call point that releases the lock in an emergency. Final exit fire doors on the other hand should never be locked while people are in the building.
Finally, the survey asked people’s opinions of how a fire door ought to be kept when not in use. Over a third gave an incorrect answer, at 34%.
8% thought a fire door should be kept completely open, and 7% thought it should be propped or wedged ajar.
66% correctly identified that fire doors need to be closed but not locked. The age group who were most likely to get this wrong were 25-34 year olds, of whom 20% thought fire doors should be kept completely open.
How fire doors work
Fire doors have several features that distinguish them from any other door. Intumescent strips that are fitted either around the frame or the door itself will swell up when they reach a certain temperature, making a tight seal that prevents toxic smoke escaping. Self closing mechanisms are another vital part of fire doors, as they prevent the door being left open by mistake. Lastly, parts such as windows, hinges and screws will all be made of materials designed to withstand extreme heat. Fire doors need to be checked at least every six months in order to make sure there are no faults.
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