THE IMPORTANCE OF OFFICE FIRE DOORS

In any building, office or industrial premises, one of the major considerations is fire safety. In any work environment, there is a responsibility of the building owners and/or managers to ensure that every precaution is taken to protect the people within, in the event of a fire outbreak. Every building must be equipped with the correct passive fire protection to slow the spread of any smoke and flames, and to ensure there are established procedures and facilities for a safe evacuation of the premises in the case of a fire emergency! One of the most important passive fire protection components are the fire doors. Fire doors will provide the compartmentalisation of a building, preventing all the harmful components of a fire outbreak – flame, heat, and smoke from spreading into adjoining rooms or spaces in these situations – here is a further explanation of what a fire door does and why it is so important:

What A Fire Door Does

The main function of any fire door is to protect any occupiers or inhabitants in the building from smoke, fire, and heat injury in the event of a fire outbreak. The principle behind passive fire protection is to divide the building into individual fire compartments. Fire doors provide this important compartmentalisation – in doing so, they will contain any fire event in the specific area of the building that the fire occurs, for a specific amount of time. These fire doors are specially designed and manufactured for different environments and should be installed in the appropriate locations within the office building or workplace. The specially manufactured office fire doors are constructed of flame-retardant materials and thoroughly tested to ensure that they are fit for purpose in the event of a fire emergency – and all the individual components of the fire door and their accompanying fixtures – door leaf, glazing, hinges, handles and, importantly, seals – must also be fire-resistant!

Fire Door Seals

These components of a fire door are vital – no matter how well constructed and fitted your office fire door is, it will not be fit for purpose without the additional, correct fire seals! The intumescent seals fitted to the fire doors automatically expand in the event of a fire outbreak, instantly increasing their volume and sealing any gaps between the door frame and the door itself to provide the necessary fire and smoke protection.

Office fire doors MUST be installed and fitted correctly for them to be effective, so ensure this is done by accredited and appropriately skilled people.

The Importance Of Fire Doors

Although the most usual function of a fire door is simply the provision of access from one room to another, in the event of fire outbreak these doors will fulfil the vital role of reducing the damage caused by the fire and smoke, will protect the essential evacuation routes (especially for those who may have restricted mobility and need more time to safely egress), as well as providing the emergency services with a protected route to access the building and deal with the fire professionally.

The performance of a fire door may be the difference between life and death, so their presence in offices and other work environments cannot be underestimated nor undervalued!