DOORS, WINDOWS & FITTINGS
THE 85 % BLIND SPOT: WHAT THE FIRE DOOR INDUSTRY NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT THE BUILDING SAFETY ACT
As the need for greater awareness and understanding of the Building Safety Act( BSA) persists within the industry, Nicola John, Managing Director of FDM Training & Development, clarifies the crucial responsibilities and implications for everyone involved in the fire door industry.
Much of the confusion across the industry stems from the BSA’ s deliberate move away from prescriptive rules toward an outcomes-based approach, which, in theory, is more meaningful but, in practice, leaves most unsure where to start. This general uncertainty also extends to the widely held belief that the act only applies to high-risk buildings, which simply isn’ t the case. While, yes, higherrisk buildings are subject to more stringent rules under the gateway process, the core principles of competency and compliance apply to all buildings. If it needs building regulations approval, the legislation applies.
Eight years on from Dame Judith Hackitt’ s Building a Safer Future report, which demanded a systemic overhaul of the construction regulation system, and four years after the introduction of the BSA, our industry still faces misconceptions regarding crucial rules and responsibilities. In fact, a recent survey cited during last year’ s FDM roundtable revealed that an alarming 85 % of people on the Constructionline register, one of the UK’ s most widely used contractor databases, believe the Building Safety Act doesn’ t apply to them. They are wrong.
This is a worrying statistic, particularly as the regulatory landscape begins to harden. Last year, the Technology and Construction Court granted the Health and Safety Executive( HSE), acting as the Building Safety Regulator( BSR), its first injunction. No longer a theoretical regulator, the BSR is acting and winning.
COMPETENCE AS A LEGAL CONCEPT
Although most people in the fire door industry have heard of Section 35 of the BSA, many still don’ t understand what it does or its significance. Section 35 isn’ t about best practice or gap tolerances; it makes competence a requirement under building regulations, ending the era of merely ticking boxes and signing forms, and instead demands proof that whoever has done the work is competent to do it.
Those involved in the fire door supply chain need to be crystal clear about their responsibilities, as since October 2023, the cost of breaching building regulations has significantly increased. No longer a fine-only offence limited to £ 5,000, which Dame Judith Hackitt famously described as‘ so small as to be an ineffective deterrent’, the breaching of building regulations can now lead to a potentially unlimited fine and imprisonment for up to two years.
THE ILLUSION OF COMPLIANCE
FDM’ s 2025 roundtable made it clear that there is still much confusion and fragmentation across the sector, creating a dangerous illusion of compliance.
In addition, last year the Fire Door Inspection Scheme found that, along with gaps, faulty doors and maintenance issues, a worrying 31 % of fire doors failed inspections due to incorrect installation. That’ s almost a third of fire doors designed to compartmentalise a building and provide a first line of defence in a fire event, wrongly installed from day one. And this competence issue is exactly what Section 35 is trying to address.
Of course, not all competency issues are the result of incorrect installation; often, supply chain economics is to blame for fire door failures, resulting in substitutions for cheaper hardware, fewer safeguards, and a fire door that fails in 15 minutes
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