Fire Door Safety Week

YMC are an IFC accredited installer of passive fire protection. We are committed to keeping our clients safe and protected. This week we are supporting Fire Door Safety Week and helping to raise awareness of how important fire doors are. 

 

Fire doors are a crucial part of the passive fire protection of every commercial, public, and multiple occupancy building. They provide critical protection of escape routes (stairs & corridors) and places of relative safety. 

 

In the event of a fire, effective fire doors will prevent it from spreading to other areas of the building, allowing occupants to escape safely. Fire doors that are damaged, poorly fitted or poorly maintained will not save lives or protect the property. 

The theme for this year’s campaign, which runs from 25 – 29 September, is ‘Recognise it, Report it’ and aims to help people spot problems with faulty doors so they can be reported, then repaired or replaced. 

 

 

 

A lack of knowledge over what constitutes a faulty fire door leads to under-reporting, with 29% of respondents saying they wouldn’t report a faulty fire door for this reason – putting themselves and others at risk. 

 

Worryingly, 21% said the reason they wouldn’t report in future is because they don’t think anything would get done. Almost half (49%) didn’t feel it’s their responsibility to report a faulty fire door. 

 

It wasn’t just issues with spotting and reporting problems that were prevalent, there was also a lack of understanding over the purpose of fire doors and how they function. More people believed that a fire door aids in stopping the spread of fire (46%) than the spread of smoke (32%).  

Only a fully functioning fire door will protect property and life from fire and smoke, with smoke inhalation being the main cause of fire-related deaths.