MAINTENANCE & REPAIR
Preparing for Grenfell Report Phase 2
Phase 2 of the Grenfell report due on September 4th 2024 is long awaited across the industry . With the release of the report imminent , Nicola John , MD at Fire Door Maintenance ( FDM ) reflects on Phase 1 and discusses what she hopes to see in the second instalment …
Looking back
Grenfell Phase 1 took place from 21st May 2018 to 12th December 2018 ; the report published on 30th October 2019 . It will be almost five years when Phase 2 report is published , but , in those five years , what has changed in the fire door industry ?
Significant changes have occurred within the manufacture of fire doors , primary test evidence , bidirectional testing and 3rd party certification however what about when the door is on site ?
Phase 1 recommended the following ( page 779 ):
A : that the owner and manager of every residential building containing separate dwellings ( whether or not they are high rise buildings ) carry out an urgent inspection of all fire doors to ensure that they comply with applicable legislative standards .
B : that the owner manager of every residential building containing separate dwellings ( whether or not they are highrise buildings ) be require by law to carry out checks at not less than three monthly intervals to ensure that all fire doors are fitted with effective self-closing devices in working order .
We have certainly seen some new pieces of legislation and some concise guidance around buildings 11m and over in relation to fire door inspections . However , what about 11m and under ?
The Regulatory Reform ( Fire Safety ) Order 2005 Article 17 of the Regulatory Reform ( Fire Safety ) Order 2005 ( RRO / FSO ) makes it a legal requirement to ensure that fire resisting doors and escape doors are correctly installed and adequately maintained in order for them to be fit for purpose . This has been the case for around 19 years .
To ensure they are correctly maintained you would need to inspect them to ensure compliance , but the lack of a timeframe in this document seems to rely on interpretation and we see varying degrees of compliance .
Regulation 10 was also brought in to assist owner / managers with this task , however in our experience many landlords do not think that fire door inspections relate to them or indeed the legal requirement to pass on information regarding fire doors to the tenants on an annual basis at worst .
Our discussions with landlords have unfortunately led us to believe that not all regulation 10 checks have been
undertaken or documented once let alone several times since the report was published in October 2019 .
Looking ahead
At FDM , we expect to see the Phase 2 report focus on fire doors and the spread of smoke within the tower due to underperforming doors . Barbara Lane drew attention in Phase 1 to serious questions regarding the fire doors throughout the tower both flat doors and stairwell doors .
Phase 2 will report on the investigations that took place during phase 2 inquiry and whether the doors complied with the regulations and guidance applicable at the time they were installed .
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AUGUST 2024
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