Behind closed doors: Fire door insights with JELD-WEN
Iain Hoey
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Glyn Hauser, R&D Senior Group Manager at JELD-WEN, shares insights into fire door safety, regulatory developments, and the future of fire door innovation and technology
What prompted JELD-WEN to investigate and publish a white paper on fire door safety in the UK?
As we all know, a fire door is more than just a door; it is a critical element of a building’s fire safety strategy.
When designed, tested, and installed correctly, fire doors can help to save lives.
Despite this, in the UK there has been a certain legacy of complacency when it comes to fire door best practice, largely owing to a lack of clear regulatory framework, low awareness and limited understanding around the risks of an inadequate product.
Even now, amid a recent tranche of new regulation designed to elevate the UK’s fire safety regime, we believe that there is scope to do more.
With this, our white paper provides a contextual investigation into why fire door safety has so often fallen through the cracks, what is changing as a result of new regulation and what, in an ideal world, should change to ensure best practice.
Compliance is in the DNA of JELD-WEN, and for us, the remit is simple – we want to ensure every fire door is able to perform as it should, every time.
Could you outline some of the key findings of the white paper?
Despite multiple regulations concerning fire safety having been in place for many years, we identified vast scope for performance failure throughout the typical lifecycle of a fire door.
To begin with, the good news is that – though not a legal requirement – the majority of leading manufacturers in the UK use a third-party accreditation scheme to independently certify that their fire doors are fit for purpose and have been produced in a controlled and consistent environment.
This will usually be a scheme listed under the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), the government-backed accreditation body designed to assess organisations that provide inspection testing and certification services.
If the relevant tests are passed and the factory audit confirms manufacturing processes are in place to ensure production consistency, then doors constructed to that exact specification can be accredited under the same third-party certification.
Many manufacturers, like JELD-WEN, will also opt for dual-purpose certification, to demonstrate compliance with other key industry standards.
For instance, Secured by Design (SBD) is an official police initiative that works to improve the security of buildings.
Every certification scheme also operates regular mandatory audits as part of the accreditation process.
However, despite this rigorous, holistic approach to manufacturing and certification, when a fire door is finally ‘in the wild’, any sense of regulated oversight or standardisation will often fall short.
Take for instance, the next step in the fire door safety chain: installation.
For a fire door to perform as intended, it not only has to be manufactured in a certain way, but also needs to be installed correctly.
Despite this, there has never been (and still isn’t!) a legal requirement for the installation of fire doors to be undertaken by an individual with any specific training, qualifications or accreditation.
The result is that general tradespeople are able to undertake this specialist, highly complex role, whereby even the slightest deviation from the manufacturer’s instructions can render the product not fit for purpose.
Regular inspections and maintenance of fire doors are equally as important as correct installation.
However, our study also revealed a legacy of poor maintenance and infrequent inspections.
In the context of multi-occupancy housing, which is subject to higher use and traffic, there is an increased likelihood of misuse, damage and even vandalism.
A lack of education is a big issue too, especially amongst the social housing sector.
As part of our white paper, we conducted a survey amongst social housing tenants to gauge their understanding of fire door safety.
Amongst the key results, only a quarter (25%) said they had a good understanding of how fire doors work and one in five (17%) admitted that they couldn’t tell the difference between a fire door and a standard door.
Interestingly too, over a fifth (22%) reported having seen fire doors propped open in their building, thus diminishing their efficacy should a fire occur.
What are some of the most critical new regulations being introduced?
The first major new regulation to come into play was the Fire Safety Act 2021, designed to bolster fire safety in buildings, especially those of multiply occupancy.
Among its provisions, the Act clarifies and extends the legal responsibilities of building owners and managers regarding fire safety, particularly concerning regular inspections of fire doors and other safety measures.
This sits alongside the more recently introduced Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, which require Responsible Persons to conduct regular checks on communal fire doors and flat entrance doors in high-rise residential properties.
In addition, the Building Safety Act 2022 sets out a host of tightened sanctions on how high-rise residential buildings should be constructed and maintained, with an Accountable Person responsible for ensuring safety compliance and addressing residents’ concerns.
Together, the remit is to form a comprehensive regulatory approach, which provides a clear delineation of responsibilities and requirements for ongoing maintenance and communication to enhance fire safety in residential buildings, particularly those deemed to be at higher risk.
However, some time on since inception, and concerns remain about whether this regulation is still enough.
How does will innovation drive the Golden Thread initiative?
In response to one of the Hackitt review’s key recommendations, the government continues to point towards a ‘Golden Thread’, whereby all involved parties have access to a trail of readily available digital information about the products and procedures that contribute towards fire safety.
To implement the Golden Thread at the earliest opportunity, we have recently become one of the first manufacturers to install a data pin across every fire doorset we produce.
Offering an advanced level of data recording and collection, the pins are fitted into the hinge edge of the door at the point of manufacture to provide immediate access to certification, technical documentation, installation guides, warranties and inspection reports.
This very much aligns with the Golden Thread approach, in the context of leveraging technology and digitalisation to enhance communication and transparency across all stages of the doorset’s lifecycle.
By maintaining a continuous and traceable flow of information, the remit is to provide stakeholders with access to a more accurate data trail.
Through widespread adoption, we believe this approach has the potential to revolutionise collaboration, compliance, risk management, and quality control, ultimately leading to better-managed buildings.
And that’s just the start.
With data analytics and digitalisation advancing hand-in-hand, we remain on the cusp of a new era of smarter, safer building design and maintenance.
In the not too distant future, we might be in a situation where smart fire doors are able to monitor their status in real-time and alert maintenance teams to any issues immediately.
This will open the door to more innovation.
Our goal is to be at the heart of this, providing building managers, local authorities and other commercial stakeholders with all the tools they need to enhance compliance, maintenance and operational efficiency, ultimately ensuring that fire doors perform their critical role in protecting lives and property.
What immediate steps should be taken to adhere to the new regulations?
One of the simplest but most significant steps we would recommend stakeholders take, is to specify ‘doorsets’ rather than buying individuals doors and hardware components separately.
What some may not realise is that even something as seemingly minor as the wrong choice of hinge or customisation of a letterbox can significantly impact a door’s fire resistance and invalidate the certification.
Purchasing a whole doorset, which is pre-tested, pre-assembled and fitted with all compatible components, direct from the manufacturer, minimises any room for error and is the safest way to ensure it is compliant.
We must also urgently address the gaps in understanding around fire door regulations and responsibilities, to ensure that the process following manufacture is fully compliant.
This requires investment in upskilling and training to increase industry understanding and ensure all stakeholders have the knowledge and competence to ensure adherence to their individual roles.
Looking forward, what further changes or innovations do you think are necessary to ensure the absolute best practice in fire door safety?
Principally, to ensure every fire door has the opportunity to perform as intended we would advocate the introduction of a legal requirement for all fire doorset installation and maintenance work to be conducted by qualified installers validated through a UKAS-accredited scheme.
We propose that this would work in a similar vein to the Gas Safe Register whereby only registered installers would be able to legally work on fire door applications, and the scheme would be supported with a team of inspectors who monitor that work is being undertaken competently and safely.
We would also like to see third party certification become a mandatory requirement of building regulation as an independently verified source of truth to remove ambiguity and misinterpretation.
A continued commitment to innovation is also critical.
We remain on the cusp of great change, as advances in materials science, technology and data integration continue to bring new opportunities to push boundaries in fire door practice.
In this way, we cannot afford to rest on our laurels and must continue to strive to do better and use the current impetus of regulatory change to demonstrate how fire door best practice should look not just in the UK but on a global stage.
And finally it’s about remembering that fire door best practice isn’t just a legal obligation; it’s a moral one.
After all, every fire door properly installed and maintained is another chance to save lives.
JELD-WEN’s ‘Fire Safety: Time to Shut the Door on Risk’ white paper is available for free to download.
Visit https://www.jeld-wen.co.uk/fire-safety-white-paper
