FIRE DOOR REGULATIONS 2022

1.1. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 were placed on the statute book on 18 May 2022, and came into force on 23 January 2023. The regulations implement the majority of those recommendations made to government in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report which require a change in the law.

1.2. Responsible Persons, including both building owners (for example freeholders) and other persons having control of the premises (for example managing agents) were required to comply with the regulations from 23 January 2023. Any breach of the regulations is a criminal offence if the breach places one or more relevant persons (for example residents, staff or visitors) at risk of death or serious injury in the event of fire.

more details can be found on the government website
Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: fire door guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

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.

Routine checking of fire doors: what you need to do

6.1. Regulation 10 requires that, if the top storey of the building is above 11m in height (typically, a building of more than four storeys) the Responsible Person must:

use best endeavours to check all flat entrance fire doors at least every 12 months; and
carry out checks of any fire doors in communal areas at least every 3 months.

Flat entrance doors

6.5. To check flat entrance doors, you will need access to each flat, so that the door can be checked on both sides. Arrangements should be made with residents in advance to carry out these checks. You could consider offering a range of times, so that residents can be present. Other than in very small blocks of flats, it is unlikely that all doors can be checked on a single occasion.

6.6. Regulation 10 requires that, over every 12 month period, you keep a record of the steps taken to check flat entrance doors. In any cases when access to a flat was not granted, this must also be detailed. Ultimately, you might need to consider legal action if a resident persistently refuses to cooperate with these checks. It may be useful to pre-plan the checks that need to be undertaken. For example, this could take the form of a checklist, on which you can record the outcome of each check. A sample checklist is included as an appendix to this guide. You could also use electronic means to plan and record checks.

Doors to stairways and lobbies and doors within corridors

6.8. These doors are subject to greater wear and tear, and to greater potential for damage, than flat entrance doors, so they must be examined more regularly. While the Fire Safety (England) Regulations require that they are checked every three months, it is a simple matter for them to be monitored on an ongoing basis when any other checks in the common parts are carried out or the building is visited.

Examples of failed fire door surveys

Painted smoke seals

here we have an example found whilst doing a routine check for one of our clients, this is quite a common issue. paint on the smoke seal will affect the performance and render the smoke seal not fit for purpose, it has been highlighted in the new government guidelines they must be replaced.

Damaged lipping

here we have damaged lipping which was found on our first survey for a care home, this had gone un-noticed for years even after several fire risk assessments and simply just painted over, this why we stress that door surveys must be carried out by a fire door specialist.

Worn hinges

here we have a bent lift off hinge, this causes the door to drop creating excessive gaps which in turn affect the fire performance of the doorset.

Doorset is swollen due to water damage

here we have a damaged door and frame caused by a water leak, the door leaf and frame have swollen which is stopping the door from being closed. there is no approved repair technique so it must be replaced.

Gap larger than 3mm at the bottom of the door

here we have a gap at the bottom of the door which is larger than 3mm, all fire doors must have a gap no greater than 10mm but if smoke protection is required then the maximum gap must be no greater than 3mm, as we know smoke will spread throughout a building much quicker than a fire so having the gap as small as possible will prevent the smoke from spreading too quickly.

No fire stopping between the frame and substrate

here we have removed some architraves as part of an intrusive sampling survey, upon removing the architraves we found there was no fire stopping which would render this doorset not fit for purpose, if there was a fire, fire and smoke will always look for the easiest route to spread, that being through and behind the architraves which would take only a matter of minutes.

Door leaf is bowed

here we have a door leaf that is bowed towards the bottom more than 3mm, this prevents the door leaf from closing fully into the frame which severely affects its performance.

Gaps bigger than 4mm

here we have the most common issue of all which is almost guaranteed on doors that do not have regular maintenance, gaps at the top and the sides of the door must be between 2mm and 4mm, this is to ensure the smoke seals can do what they have been designed to do, keep the smoke and fire out for aslong as possible, if the gaps are bigger then this greatly reduces the time is takes for fire and smoke to spread, for example a doorset with compliant gaps will hold up for 30minutes or more but a doorset with gaps 1mm outside the designed specification will reduce from 30 minutes to approximately 7 minutes.

Glazing system is damaged

here we have cracked glass, this will need to be replaced as it will severely affect the performance of the doorset.