Fire doors can be an essential safety measure for your business, and for many companies, they are compulsory for specific protection and insurance requirements. In this post, the NEX team shares some fire door insights and safety tips to inform and expand your company’s compliance efforts.
WHY FIRE DOORS?
If an accidental fire were to occur, fire-rated doors prevent fire, heat and smoke from spreading further around the premises. This can save your company thousands in loss assets, and protect your employees from serious injury.
Fire doors can contain heat exposure for up to 4 hours and temperatures reaching up to 232 celcius. When responding to fires, every second counts, and fire-rated doors can buy you the crucial minutes you need to evacuate personnel and to have the blaze contained. Fire doors act as a barrier to trap the fire and prevent it from spreading, causing greater damage.
FIRE DOOR INSTALLATION, PRODUCT SELECTION, AND USAGE
It is important to get fire doors professionally installed as they are not your run-of-the-mill door. A poorly installed fire door will do more damage than good.
When choosing this type of door it is best to work with a certified company that specializes fire-rated doors. A certified industrial door specialist will be able to assist you in choosing the right solutions for your business.
Once the fire door is properly installed, avoid propping, wedging or placing anything in the door opening as this will void its value and use, not to mention possible insurance coverages. If the door is damaged in any way, have it repaired or replaced immediately to ensure that it is in optimal working condition incase needed.
CHECKING YOUR FIRE DOOR
When checking whether or not your fire door is fully functional, there are a few considerations you must make. First, you should check the door’s certification, which should be located on center of the bottom bar. It is usually in the form of a label or metal plaque. If there is no certification plate, report it to site manager and have a trained technician look into the corrective measures required to have it replaced.
The second step is to ensure that the gaps around the door are less than 4mm when closed. This is to prevent the fire from seeping through the gaps. One method to check whether the gap is right or not is by seeing if light passes through the gaps. If you can see the light, it is usually a sign that the gap is too big; this could be due to improper installation or some type of physical damage thereafter.
Lastly, test to see if the fire door closes and opens properly and smoothly, with no delay or obscure noises. Make sure the door completely closes to the floor. The fire door would not be beneficial if it cannot close properly.
It is important, and in all required applications mandatory to have your fire doors inspected and “drop-tested” at least annually by a trained technician.
