Secured by Design supports Fire Door Safety Week 2022

Taking place from Monday 31 October until Friday 4 November, the 2022 edition of Fire Door Safety Week is being run by the British Woodworking Federation with the support of a number of partners, among them the Home Office’s own National Fire Safety campaign, the National Fire Chiefs Council and the London Fire Brigade.

This year’s Fire Door Safety Week campaign runs just a few months after the June announcement of new fire safety legislation and guidance outlining that cladding of the type used on Grenfell Tower is to be banned from use on any building in England.

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 will come into effect on 23 January 2023 and ensure that flat entrance fire doors are subject to annual checks, while those located in the common parts of high-risk residential buildings must receive quarterly checks.

Secured by Design, which is the national police crime prevention initiative, has been a staunch campaigner for improved security in buildings for over 30 years. As a consequence of the tragic events of the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017, Secured by Design announced that any fire door manufacturers applying for membership, describe their products as fire doors and declare (or imply) a fire performance for them must have third party certification for both security and fire performance purposes.

The organisation has revisited the possible life-threatening characteristics of fire rated door sets due to the fact that asphyxiation caused by smoke inhalation is the most common cause of deaths in flats when a fire occurs.

Secured by Design requires that the door sets produced by member companies and listed on their Secured by Design schedule as being fire-rated – a requirement of the UK Building Regulations (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) – must incorporate smoke control properties for the intended installation. For instance, flat entrance door sets have to be certificated for the following attributes: security, fire and smoke control.

Secured by Design is adamant that any door set carrying its accreditation should be fit for purpose in all declared characteristics, but notably so those that are life critical such as fire, security and smoke control.