A campaign to highlight the vital importance of specifying, buying and installing fire doors and doorsets that meet current regulations is to be launched by the British Woodworking Federation (BWF) in the autumn.
It follows the alarming revelation that a large proportion of building professionals have little idea of what constitutes a fire door – which could put lives at risk.
The discovery was made during recent research commissioned by the BWF which demonstrated ignorance of fire door best practice, regulations and technology at all levels from architects and contractors to builders merchants, site installers and building control officers.
To address the problem the BWF is to launch a programme of advertisements, direct mail and other tools to get the vital safety message out to the professionals and the general public.
For fire doors to be effective, the BWF says, they must be fitted as a system comprising the door leaf, frame, glazing if fitted, ironmongery and sealing measures.
The best way to achieve this, the federation contends, is by specifying a BWF-Certifire approved doorset installed by a BWF/FIRAS Accredited Fire Door installer.
The BWF also believes that, given the fragmentary awareness of the rules and regulations, more formal regulation of the fire door supply and installation process would seem logical.
A BWF spokesperson said 80% of the survey respondents thought approved fire door centres were a good idea and added: “This would presumably help to offset the fact that 70% were unaware of the crucial role played by compatible ironmongery and fittings in the level of protection afforded by a door system.”
