The Fire Door Survey

We recently completed an extensive fire door survey for a large international soft drink manufacturer. Their production site had around 200 fire doors and emergency exits. All of these needed to be visited and checked to see whether they were fit for purpose. Our Fire Safety Consultant, Billy Murdoch, spent the day on site, verifying which doors were up to scratch, and which ones needed work.

A thorough examination was made of:

– Door leaf & frame;
– Glazed apertures;
– Intumescent fire and smoke seals;
– Closing & opening devices;
– All ironmongery;
– Mandatory safe signage; and
– Cleaning

Lessons Learned

As we’ve seen in many offices and factories, one particular problem was fire doors being kept wedged open. This can happen when staff want increased ventilation, things are being moved between rooms, or simply because they want more convenient access. However, a fire door that’s propped open isn’t a fire door anymore. It has been prevented from doing its job. On a day to day basis that might not seem like a big issue. But if a fire occurs, that choice could be devastating, as a fire would progress unchecked through any adjoined areas.

We recommend that the responsible person at any site makes a regular tour of their company’s premises, to make sure this isn’t happening, and remind staff of the importance of keeping fire doors closed. This is a common and easily identifiable problem, with a simple solution. For more technical matters of course you need an expert – but it’s great to keep an eye on the basics yourself.

Continued Support

After successfully completing the fire door survey and feeding back the remedial actions, Amalgamate have been asked to coordinate the remedial works on behalf of the client. Working closely with one of our other clients, Worksmart, we have agreed a works package, and developed robust Risk Assessments and Method Statements that fulfil the client’s needs in a stringent production environment. We look forward to completing the working in the coming weeks.

If you need consultancy support or advice on managing your fire safety duties and responsibilities, Amalgamate’s fire safety experts are on hand to provide that help.

Contact us in Ayrshire on 01294 443 806, in Glasgow on 0141 244 0181. Or email info@amalgamate-safety.com for more details.