09/04/2018

Who is the ‘Responsible Person’

 

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, amended in 2006 came into force to simplify the fire safety legislation already in place. The order requires the ‘Responsible person’ to undertake and maintain sufficient fire precautions.

The premises to which the order applies include shops and offices, factories and warehouses, hotels, residential care premises, schools and hospitals to name but a few.

So who is the ‘responsible person’? Article 3 of the Order defines ‘responsible person’ in relation to a workplace as the employer, if the workplace is to any extent under his/her control.  In relation to premises that are not a workplace, the person who has control of the premises (as occupier or otherwise) in connection with the carrying on by him of a trade, business or other undertaking (for profit or not) is deemed the ‘responsible person’.  Where the person in control of the premises does not have control in this way, the ‘responsible person’ is deemed to be the owner.

Having established who the ‘responsible person’ is, in relation to a premises, it is important to address the responsibilities they hold.

Article 8(1) of the Order requires that the ‘responsible person’ take ‘general fire precautions’.  ‘General fire precautions’ as defined in article 4 of the Order, include measures to reduce the risk of fire and the risk of spread of fire, measures in relation to means of escape from the premises, including safe escape routes and emergency escape lighting, measures in relation to fighting fire and measures in relation to the detection of fire and the ability to warn of fire.  Thus, ‘general fire precautions’ are not simply restricted to fire precautions identified under other articles within the Order.

26/02/2018

 

MAINTENANCE OF FIRE DOORS

Fire door inspections are an integral part of fire safety. Yorkshire Fire Solutions recommend that buildings have their fire doors inspected every 6-12 months depending on foot fall in and out of the building. As we are third party accredited to inspect and maintain fire doors, we can carry out a survey which will determine which doors have passed and comply with regulations and which have failed. If a door/ door set has failed, we can then either repair using out accredited repair techniques from Q Mark BM Trada Scheme, or offer to replace the door for the client.  A written record of the fire door inspection should then be kept by the person responsible as an audit trail can then be made and the fire door inspection report should then be kept in the event it is required.

If there are any concerns regarding a fire door, these should be reported immediately, just like any concerns regarding any other fire fighting equipment such as alarms or extinguishers.
Fire doors and all passive fire protection elements within the building play a part in the fire safety of a building and therefore in reducing risk to those within, so properly maintained fire doors form an essential element of the fire safety plan for every building. Check your Fire Doors Using our simple £1 Coin Gap Check, if your Fire Doors fail this simple Gap Check, Contact us right away, “Correctly Installed Fire doors can Save Lives & Properties”
Regulatory Fire Safety Order
When the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 came into force over in England and Wales it transferred the responsibility for Fire Safety from the fire authorities to whoever has day-to-day responsibility for the premises. The responsible person must ensure they take steps to reduce the risk from fire for those contained within the building and consider how to contain a fire should one break out.
Fire Door Maintenance
Fire doors and all passive fire protection elements within the building play a part in the fire safety of a building and therefore in reducing risk to those within, so properly maintained fire doors form an essential element of the fire safety plan for every building. Check your Fire Doors Using our simple £1 Coin Gap Check, if your Fire Doors fail this simple Gap Check, Contact us right away, “Correctly Installed Fire doors can Save Lives & Properties”
Regulatory Fire Safety Order
When the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 came into force over in England and Wales it transferred the responsibility for Fire Safety from the fire authorities to whoever has day-to-day responsibility for the premises. The responsible person must ensure they take steps to reduce the risk from fire for those contained within the building and consider how to contain a fire should one break out.

18/01/2018

Swapping Fire Doors For Sprinklers

 

There have been proposals made for new build tower blocks in Dublin to remove fire doors and replace with sprinklers. This would mean removing fire corridors, which give protection from high risk areas such as kitchens and replacing with sprinklers.

The article explains people are already worried, stating that sprinklers should be an additional safety feature instead of relying on them entirely.

As the article states, a sprinkler system is triggered by high temperature and the flames at ceiling level. The main benefits of having correctly installed fire doors is not only to protect from heat/flames but to protect from smoke. Smoke is one of the biggest killers so having no Fire Door as a barrier would be a massive risk

Read full article here:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/swapping-fire-doors-for-sprinklers-risky-cclh7r8w0

Do I Need A Fire Rated Door?

In all public buildings it is imperative to have a fire risk assessment and a compartmentation plan which will identify what doors will need to be fire doors. Fire doors are an important aspect of passive fire protection and can fight back a fire and smoke from entering a room for up 30/60/120 minutes depending on the rating and installation of the door.

Public buildings such as hotels, flats, schools, hospitals and residential homes require fire doors that should be regularly maintained by a ‘responsible person’ in order to ensure they meet the required fire safety regulations and can ensure public safety.

Fire doors are required to help save buildings and lives, as they will hold off the fire from spreading for a short while, so people can escape without injuries. Don’t take risks, make sure your fire doors are installed by competent 3^rd party installers.

Fire Door Maintenance 

 

Last week we surveyed 200 Fire Doors in a tower block in Sheffield. Many of the doors were non-compliant as fire doors as they were either bowed and twisted beyond repair or had missing intumescent seals/ damaged smoke seals. Most were non-fire rated doorsets altogether.

In order for a door to become  compliant and work well a fire door, it needs to have all the correct components; the correct seals including intumescent and smoke seals, correct gaps, and it must not be damaged or have voids which could compromise the integrity of the door leaf or frame.

 

 

The findings were quite shocking and a few of these pictures represent how damaged some of the fire doors were and how poorly maintained they have been. It is a legal requirement under the Regulatory Reform of the Fire Safety Order 2006 (RRFSO) to make sure that all fire safety equipment is maintained by the responsible person who is in charge of maintenance and upkeep of the building. This includes passive fire protection such as fire doors and fire stopping along with fire risk assessments and evacuation plans.

 

 

 

How You Can Check Your Own Fire Doors

 

A new five step check has been launched by the British Woodworking Federation (BWF) that can help social housing tenants and any body responsible for buildings to check the effectiveness and compliance of their Fire Doors.

The function of the checker, is mainly to boost the knowledge and confidence of social housing tenants concerned about Fire Safety.

The elements that are featured in the 5 step check are:

 

• To check for certification on the doors via a stamp/ plug
• To check if the door closes fully
• To check the hinge condition and whether they are fire rated
• To check the gaps which should ideally be 3 mm
• To check the seals. A fire door should have intumescent strips either in the frame or in the door leaf and sometimes smoke control seals

There is an article on the Fire Door Safety week which emphasizes that although the 5 step check does not replace a full inspection carried out by a trained and competent individual but it will help to highlight any immediate problems.

 

The Importance of correctly installed and maintained Fire Doors

A Fire Door is just a door, right? Wrong! A Fire Door is an engineered safety device. A lot of premise owners overlook the importance of a Fire Door as to them, and to most people it is ‘just a door’. However people don’t understand the specificity that needs to go into a Fire Door in order to make it fit for purpose in a crucial time. There should be no room for error as a Fire Door only has one job- to delay the passage of fire and smoke for enough time for a building to be evacuated. If a Fire Door is not maintained and becomes damaged, or even if it is not correctly installed in the first instance, there can be no guarantee it will work as a Fire Door. Fire Doors usually range from 30 minutes, 60 minutes to 120 minutes, yet if the integrity of the door is compromised, it may not prevent to passage of smoke or fire for even 5 minutes.

The smallest details can affect a Fire Door from working as it should, for example; incorrect door gaps, Poorly fitted intumescent seals/ smoke seals, voids in the door leaf itself, or the door frame failing to be properly Fire Stopped. If there are incorrect gaps, the intumescent strips (the seals in the door/ frame that expand on heat) will not be able to secure the door correctly, leading to fire and smoke leaking through. If there are voids in the door leaf, for example from hardware that has been removed (locks, door closers, signs) this can compromise the integrity of the door leaf.

Depending on the use of a building this should depend on how often the Fire Doors should be checked. If a building has a high footfall such as a hospital/ residential environment the doors may need to be checked much more frequently as they may come in to contact with hospital beds, trollies, or other heavy objects that may damage the frame or the door leaf. At Yorkshire Fire Solutions we deem it necessary to maintain your Fire Doors every 6 months at a minimum to ensure that if needed, repairs can be carried out as soon as possible.

At Yorkshire Fire Solutions we can supply you with a compartmentation plan, which will determine which doors should be Fire Doors, therefore which doors would need to be maintained. We can then carry out a survey on each door, to see if the Fire Door is compliant e.g correct gaps, intumescent seals, smoke seals, fire rated hinges, no damage to door leaf/ frame. After the survey is carried out we can then determine which doors would need to be replaced or which could be repaired.

You can do a quick 5 step check on your doors which can be found on the Fire Door Safety Week Website: http://firedoorsafetyweek.co.uk/new-interactive-fire-door-5-step-check/?article=true