Fire Door Assessment

We can assist you to comply with current and future legislation to ensure the fire doors in your premises are maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair. This may consist of a fire door survey of all your doors within your commercial premises, or it may be a comprehensive assessment of all flat entrance doors, lobby doors and riser/communal fire doors in your residential block of flats. We undertake an assessment for you and provide a comprehensive report, including photographs, which enables you to evidence the quality of doors within your premises, or tender for remedial works to bring the doors up to standard. We are pragmatic with our assessment and strictly consider each door on a risk assessment basis, consulting the standards in today’s guidance documents, but considering the ‘standard of the day’ when the door was installed. We will not advise of upgrades to doors unless they are absolutely necessary and based upon evidence.

Article 17 of the Fire Safety Order places an obligation on the "Responsible Person" to ensure fire doors are "subject to a suitable system of maintenance and are maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair". Given that the employer, building operator, building owner or possibly his agent has a legal duty to maintain fire doors in efficient working order, regular inspection will be necessary.

Flats: Following the introduction of the Fire Safety Act 2021, the Fire Safety Order was amended (using Article 24) to ensure the inspection of all doors between domestic premises and common parts was included within the scope of the fire risk assessment. Prior to the Fire Safety Act 2021, flat entrance doors in multi-occupied residential buildings may not have been routinely considered as part of the fire risk assessment process. The Fire Safety Act 2021 has removed the legal ambiguity and confirms that flat entrance doors are in scope of the Fire Safety Order.

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 made it a legal requirement from 23 January 2023 for responsible persons for all multi-occupied residential buildings in England with storeys over 11 metres in height to:

• Undertake quarterly checks of all fire doors (including self-closing devices) in the common parts; and,
• Undertake – on a best endeavour basis – annual checks of all flat entrance doors (including self-closing devices) that lead onto a building’s common parts.
• The regulations also require responsible persons to provide to residents of all multi-occupied residential buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises (that have common parts) information on the importance of fire doors to a building’s fire safety.

We can assist you with this. It is important to note that the checks required under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 do not replace the existing duty under the Fire Safety Order for the responsible person to put in place general fire precautions and their duties under Article 17 of the Fire Safety Order in all buildings which are in scope of the Fire Safety Order, regardless of height.

The Fire Safety Act 2021 has clarified that in any residential building which contains two or more sets of domestic premises are within the scope of the Fire Safety Order. Responsible persons for residential buildings below 11 metres in height have a duty to put in place general fire precautions in these buildings, this duty includes making sure that all fire doors – including flat entrance doors – are capable of providing adequate protection.