As Fire Door Safety Week comes around for another year, we are once again proud to support this critical initiative, which highlights the life-saving importance of well-maintained, properly installed fire doors.
Each year, Fire Door Safety Week, hosted by the British Woodworking Federation (BWF), aims to raise awareness of the essential role fire doors play in safeguarding lives and property. This year’s campaign focuses on educating the public and empowering individuals to recognise and report fire door faults.
Fire doors are a key component in fire safety, offering a vital barrier to slow the spread of fire and smoke, providing more time for safe evacuation. However, despite the life-saving role they play, misconceptions about their use still exist.
Recent research carried out by the BWF reveals concerning trends. Only 54% of fire doors in the UK are currently third-party certified, a slight decrease from 56% in 2022. This means many doors do not have the full backing of consistent standards testing, putting people at unnecessary risk.
A significant barrier to fire door safety remains the lack of understanding about third-party certification. Despite its proven benefits – such as traceability, consistent quality, and reliable fire safety performance – there’s still confusion among professionals between one-off fire test certificates and full third-party certifications. This is concerning, as the latter provides the robust proof needed to ensure a fire door will perform consistently over time.
The consequences of these lapses can be severe, especially in vulnerable environments such as hospitals, schools and social housing. Alarmingly, recent statistics reveal a significant drop in the use of third-party certified fire doors in local authority social housing, falling from 23% in 2022 to just 11% in 2023.This is an area of urgent concern, particularly as fire safety standards continue to evolve under new regulations, including the Building Safety Act and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022.
This year, Fire Door Safety Week emphasises the need for every individual to take some responsibility for their own fire safety. Everyone in a building, whether they’re a tenant, visitor, or employee, should know how to identify potential fire door issues and report them promptly.
As Richard Kowalski, our fire door expert, notes, “Even the best fire doors can fail in their crucial role if they are propped open or poorly maintained. By educating building users, we can ensure that fire doors work when they are needed most.”
This is why we will once again be sharing vital fire door safety tips and best practices across our channels in support of this year’s campaign, from expert advice on how to inspect fire doors, what to look out for, and how you can ensure fire doors in your building meet the required safety standards.
For more detailed guidance, visit the official Fire Door Safety Week website, where you can find a range of resources to help you improve fire safety in your building. www.firedoorsafetyweek.co.uk
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