How often have you overlooked a fire door or grown used to it always being propped open? If you’re like a third of the British public, you’re unlikely to report it as a problem – and the National Fire Door Safety Week that ran from the 31st of October until the 4th of November 2022 aimed to set you straight.
Fire doors are an essential fire safety feature – they are often quite literally life-saving features, so let’s see why.
The importance of fire doors
So, what is a fire door designed to do? It’s meant to keep any blaze within the room where it started. They are potentially life-saving because they protect the occupants of those rooms and leave them an escape route so that others can exit the burning or unsafe building.
Various fire safety laws stress the requirement for well-maintained and properly functioning fire doors in all public buildings, factories, and offices.
As far as landlords and those responsible for fire safety in “multi-occupied” buildings, however, the most important news is the introduction of the Fire Safety Act 2021 and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 which came into force on the 16th of May 2022.
Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
Guidance published by the National Fire Chiefs’ Council (NFCC) encapsulates the key aspects of the new regulations, how they clarify existing fire safety rules for buildings in multi-occupancy – from small to large and high-rise blocks of flats, for instance – and the responsibilities of those who own or manage them.
With effect from the 23rd of January 2023, additional obligations are placed on those designated as Responsible Persons – including landlords, their letting agents, and the managers of blocks of flats.
The NFCC identifies the three main types of multi-occupancy residential building and the fire safety measures demanded by the revised regulations:
Buildings with just 2 or more flats with doors opening onto common areas
- formulation of a Fire Risk Assessment Prioritisation;
- the issue of fire safety instructions and information to all occupants of the building; and
- information for residents specifically about the importance of fire doors;
Blocks between 11 metres and 17.9 metres tall
- all of the above plus regular checks and maintenance of all fire doors (the standard of fire doors in buildings higher than 11 metres is stricter than the standard for lower-rise buildings);
- the Responsible Person (landlord, agent, or manager) must carry out checks on all communal fire doors every quarter and further checks on the doors to individual flats at least once a year;
Blocks taller than 18 metres (that is, more than 7 storeys)
- all of the above, plus a secure “information box” accessible to rescue services;
- specific standards for the design of and materials used on external walls;
- maintenance of accurate floor plans and a building plan;
- maintenance of lifts and fire-fighting equipment; and
- comprehensive signage of escape routes.
Clearly, the importance of the national Fire Door Safety Week and the enactment of legislation such as the Fire Safety Act 2021 and the subsequent Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 have all been thrown into much sharper relief following the Grenfell Tower tragedy that claimed 72 lives in June 2017.
Further reading: Landlord guidance: Fire door safety in HMO’s and flats.
