Where ever there are fire resisting doors they should be shut!
That's why they are fitted with self closing devices!
How often have you seen something like this done to a fire door, perhaps you have even done something like this.
We all know that fire doors should be shut so why is it that we wedge them open? The answer usually is that operationally having them is a bit of a bind. Perhaps it gets in the way of our "open door management style" or they are a pain when we are moving stock around, or the noise of them closing to is annoying or irritating or, well there can be lots of reasons of course.
That's why they are fitted with self closing devices!
How often have you seen something like this done to a fire door, perhaps you have even done something like this.
We all know that fire doors should be shut so why is it that we wedge them open? The answer usually is that operationally having them is a bit of a bind. Perhaps it gets in the way of our "open door management style" or they are a pain when we are moving stock around, or the noise of them closing to is annoying or irritating or, well there can be lots of reasons of course.
So why do fire doors have to be shut?
Fire doors initially are for smoke stopping purposes rather than fire stopping purposes, that comes a little later.
So what is smoke stopping and why is it needed?
Fire doors initially are for smoke stopping purposes rather than fire stopping purposes, that comes a little later.
So what is smoke stopping and why is it needed?
Smoke from modern materials is usually, dense and toxic as well as very hot, smoke can travel at speed of up to 10 metres per second, which is as fast as most Olympic sprinters, consequently it can spread very quickly through out a building, quite possibly faster than some people can escape.
The majority of people who are killed or seriously injured in fires in buildings are injured or killed by the smoke.
Fire doors stop the smoke spreading, they act as a barrier to give people time to escape. Long corridors are sub divided with fire doors so that the whole corridor does not fill with smoke and people have the chance to escape.
Fire doors around staircases are particularly important, especially in buildings where there is only one staircase, they stop the staircase filling with smoke so that people can get down the stairs and escape. Modern fire doors even have "smoke seals" attached to them, this often looks a bit like a draft excluding brush along the edges of the door, it literally fills those small gaps around a fire door to improve its smoke stopping ability.
Fire doors stop the smoke spreading, they act as a barrier to give people time to escape. Long corridors are sub divided with fire doors so that the whole corridor does not fill with smoke and people have the chance to escape.
Fire doors around staircases are particularly important, especially in buildings where there is only one staircase, they stop the staircase filling with smoke so that people can get down the stairs and escape. Modern fire doors even have "smoke seals" attached to them, this often looks a bit like a draft excluding brush along the edges of the door, it literally fills those small gaps around a fire door to improve its smoke stopping ability.
You should be able to evacuate from your building within 3 minutes, there are some exceptions for very tall buildings but they have additional fire safety factors built in to allow for this.
Fire doors have a secondary roll and that is to stop fire spreading through out the building, they divide the building up into compartments and if things go well, the fire should be limited to that compartment, most fire doors have a 30 minutes fire resisting ability.
So if you need to have your fire doors held open what can you do?
Well that depends upon the building and its layout but there are ways of doing it that maintains the safety of the occupants and stays within the fire safety legislation so that you don't get prosecuted by the fire service.
Its very hard to generalise as buildings and occupancy are so varied, If you contact me however with more information I may be able to help.
For further advice concerning fire doors and holding them open or any other fire safety matter related to your business please contact us by e-mail at: enquiries@firesafetynet.co.uk I hope you find this information useful, at Fire Safety Net we pride ourselves in providing reports and information in plain English that are easy to understand and implement.
Allan Rotchell
Fire Safety Net
