52
AUGUST 2014 PRO INSTALLER
PRO BUSINESS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
Fireco Urges
Installers
to help ‘Kick
the Wedge’
Tom Welland, Conformance and Regulatory Affairs Manager
at Fireco provides a useful update on fire safety.
The latest Government statistics show a worrying 10%
increase in fires in England
in 2013-14 with 170,000
recorded incidents. Tragically, 275 of these incidents
resulted in a fatality. 47,500
of the recorded fires were
in buildings and 31,200 in
residential dwellings.
Recommending adequate fire
safety products and solutions
should, therefore, be of paramount
importance to installers.
Doors are one of the most
important fire safety features in
a building and also, sadly, the
most commonly abused. Research
carried out by Fireco showed that
64% of premises visit ed by the fire
service found fire doors wedged
open. As an installer visiting different premises, being aware of this
issue and offering a solution could
help keep the building occupiers
safe in the event of a fire. It could
provide the opportunity to offer
additional services in the form of
fire safety product sales.
‘Research carried
out by Fireco showed
that 64% of premises
visited by the fire
service found fire
doors wedged open
High risk buildings
Studies suggest that the greatest
fire risks are found in multi-occupied properties which have three
or more storeys. This will include
hostels, managed or sheltered
accommodation, houses that are
converted into flats, purpose built
multi-storey buildings and flats
above shops.
A high occupancy factor equates
to a higher risk, this is due to
multiple ignition sources (cook-
ers, heaters, fires,
smoking), potential
for vulnerable occupants on site and
lack of fire prevention
measures. Although only
about two-thirds of fires occur in
dwellings, these account for over
80% of both fatal and non-fatal
casualties.
Fire Safety Legislation
& Repercussions
The Government standard Building Regulations 2010, Document
B, describes the regulations for all
buildings in England. The legal requirements for fire safety will depend on whether the building has
been constructed in accordance
with these standard regulations or
to British Standard BS9999, which
offers a ‘barter’ option, giving
greater flexibility.
Once the building is occupied,
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 comes into effect,
which was designed to put an end
to prescriptive fire safety and to
hand control over to the ‘Responsible Person’; deemed to be the
owner, employer or occupier. The
Fire Safety Order (FSO) applies
to all non-domestic premises in
England and Wales.
The Responsible Person can
nominate a ‘Competent Person’
who has ‘sufficient training and
experience or knowledge to implement the requirements of the
article’. The Responsible Person,
either by utilising their Competent
Person or using their own knowledge, has a legal duty to carry
out a Fire Risk
Assessment, implement fire
safety measures to minimise the
risk to life and property from fire
and to keep the risk assessment
under review.
If, therefore, you spot a fire door
wedged open and want to find
the person to discuss possible
solutions with, it is best to ask
for the person tasked with FSO
responsibility.
Wedging open a
fire door can prove
devastating, as the case
of the Rosepark Nursing Home
in South Lanarkshire showed.
A fire broke out at Rosepark in
a cupboard on 31 January 2004
and ripped through the building.
The Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI)
conclusion for this case listed
a catalogue of precautions that
could have helped prevent the fire
becoming so destructive. One of
these precautions was for all bedroom doors to have door closers
and smoke seals fitted to them.
‘even more affordable’
Fire Doors
According to Government
building regulations, all fire doors
should be fitted with a self-closing
device. Fire doors are installed
to protect the safety of building
occupants by preventing the dangerous spread of smoke and fire,
provided they are closed. In this
way they make sure people have
a protected route to get out of
the building, and they protect the
building and its contents against
the spread of damage.
The Fireco product ‘Dorgard’
was actually quoted in the trial of
this case as it offers a solution, as
does the award-winning ‘Freedor’.
Installing a free-swing door closer
such as Freedor on each fire door
will allow the door to be safely
kept open, but the door will automatically shut when a fire alarm
sounds, using Fireco’s patented
acoustic technology. Freedor will
be made even more affordable
with an exclusive supply-only
line for trade customers to install
themselves, to be available later
this year.
Fire doors are an integral part
of a building; they save lives and
protect property. If you see a fire
door being wedged open, I urge
you to see this as an opportunity to discuss an easy-to-install,
fully compliant solution such as a
Freedor.