WHILE fires in schools are rare, with the Department for Education reporting that fewer than one in 1,000 school buildings are damaged by fire each year, fire safety is still a critical concern. Indeed, it’s alarming that in recent years trade bodies such as the Fire Industry Association have reported that one in four universities have received fire safety complaints, as well as news reports that two-thirds of schools in England have poor fire protection systems. It’s clear that fire safety in education settings cannot be compromised, so what key lessons can be learned to further improve fire safety.

When selecting a fire door, rather than sourcing a fire door and the associated hardware separately, a best practice approach would be to specify a fire door set. This covers the entire system, including the door leaf and its frame, intumescent and smoke seals, hinges, hardware, signage, glazing and the glazing system, door closer, and any fanlights or sidelights.

Fire door sets are factory prepared, which means they are machined, assembled, and prepped for any hardware – tolerances included – prior to arriving on-site. Plus, all components come from one source of supply and sit under one fire test certificate, field of application or assessment.

In contrast, a fire door assembly is reliant on components and materials being obtained from several sources, and then being manufactured correctly on-site. The onus is on those sourcing the door assembly to deliver a system that meets all the necessary standards and demands.

It’s also crucial that fire protection systems meet inclusive design demands. Opening and closing forces on doors, for example, must be considered. To enable independent access through a door, the opening force – when measured at the leading edge of the door – should be no greater than 30 N, when moving from the closed position to 30° open. Then, the opening force required from 30° to 60° should be no more than 22.5 N. Finally, in terms of the maximum closing force exerted by a controlled door closing device, this should be within 0° and 15° of final closure.

And for any fire door set fitted with a door closer, EN 3 is the minimum door closer power size allowed, regardless of the door width. Some suppliers will try to overcome the challenges surrounding opening and closing forces by winding down the door closer and its spring to the power setting of EN 1, but this is a dangerous tactic and not compliant with the policies governing inclusive design.

Once installed, fire door sets should be checked regularly, but particularly in buildings that have high numbers of people using their facilities, such as schools. If neglected, these issues can cause fire control systems to fail.

Those responsible will need to consider how often and where within a building they are used. For instance, a system installed in a high traffic route, which might be subjected to hard use or occasional abuse, will need those responsible to implement a more frequent maintenance review than other installations. This helps identify potential issues before they become serious and compromise safety.

To help answer any further questions, ASSA ABLOY has published a new best practice guide on how to specify, install, maintain, and inspect fire-certified door sets: www.assaabloyopeningsolutions.co.uk/en/whitepapers

www.assaabloyopeningsolutions.co.uk