Spec Finish

Technical Joe Cilia, FIS Technical Director, says never assume that the fire door you want to specify or install is compliant. It is your responsibility to engage with manufacturers to gather advice and evidence about performance to ensure a compliant design. SPECIFYING AND INSTALLING FIRE DOORS 14 www.thefis.org H OWmany of the witnesses up before Sir Martin Moore-Bick at the Grenfell Inquiry wished they had asked more questions, insisted on having more data and proof of performance before designing, specifying, purchasing, managing or installing components used in the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower? Things must change and the witness statements provide a lesson to every single person involved in the build process from design to installation. Although the issue of fire doors will not be looked at until phase two of the inquiry there are some clear lessons already for anyone starting the process now and who should be concerned that they have done everything reasonably possible to be compliant. BS 476 part 22 or EN1634-1 are the current tests used for fire door assemblies, made up of: • the door; • the frame; • ironmongery; • seals; and • any apertures, grills, or letterboxes. When these tests are carried out in the laboratory a report will be produced detailing: • the test installation; • the detail of the components installed; and • the results. But because they can contain commercially sensitive information, these reports are sometimes reduced to simply a ‘manufacturer’s certificate’, which without all the details can leave specifiers and contractors vulnerable when, as in the case at the Grenfell Tower inquiry, probing questions are asked about product performance. Several leading manufacturers go the extra step by having third party certification from an independent and UKAS-accredited certification body produced for their door assemblies. Unlike testing alone, re-testing is required every five years or 250,000 doors to check that the make up and construction of the doors hasn’t changed over time and includes audited production processes, whereas testing alone proves only that a door passed a test on a given day.