Select a different country or region to see content for your location.

Are we closing the compliance gap in Fire Safety?

Following the publication of the final report from the Grenfell Tower enquiry and implementation of the “fundamental reform” of fire safety rules called for by Dame Judith Hackitt’s public enquiry, we ask has the compliance gap in fire safety been closed?

Recent research commissioned in conjunction with Winkhaus UK provides insight into the changing landscape for fire safety in social housing, and although compliance levels are increasing, there are still significant failings that need to be addressed to ensure compliant fire and life safety solutions are in place and maintained across the sector.

In this article Mark Alton, Head of Product Management at Winkhaus UK, looks at some of the identified gaps the research has highlighted for fire doorsets, advising the corrective actions required for social housing providers to create and implement a compliant fire strategy.

What defines a “better” fire safety product to you?

The research responses suggest that “better fire safety products” are chosen based on their longevity and that they should come from trusted brands, with no mention of their performance of evidence of their compliance.

The changes in legislation have been created to help us define what a better fire product is, it’s a compliant product and don’t just take the manufactures word for it, ensure it is verified by an independent body.

The introduction of 3rd party certification across the lifecycle of fire doorset was one of the best ways of demonstrating due diligence has been fulfilled. For responsible persons and tenants, this provides confidence in the information provided and peace of mind that a compliant solution is being specified, manufactured, installed and maintained.

UKAS accredited 3rd Party auditing is not just required to verify test data for fire doorsets, but it is “best practice” to demonstrate compliance. All these stages, within the lifecycle of a fire doorset, refer to the original Design and Test evidence, ensuring the correct components are being used to make and maintain a door.

Maintaining evidence of compliance

To ensure continued performance and compliance post installation and handover, fire doorsets require regular assessment or inspection. The research shows only 51% of respondents scheduling annual inspection for flat entrance doors and the required quarterly inspections for communal/external fire doorsets, meaning the correct schedule is not in place for almost half the fire doorsets captured in our research.

The original design and test evidence for a fire doorset becomes the golden thread of evidence that must be maintained throughout the lifecycle of a fire doorset. Scheduled inspection is there to ensure the golden thread is maintained and if remedial maintenance is required, it is completed in accordance with the original design and test evidence for the fire doorset. This reduces ongoing replacement costs for providers, as if the thread is broken by not inspecting and maintaining, the fire doorset will need to be replaced.

How do we close the gap in compliance?

Understanding and challenging the barriers for compliance requires a wider debate within our sector in order to increase the importance of fire safety in the long list of other priorities social housing providers must juggle within their budgets and available funding.

What can be controlled is the internal processes that need to be created and implemented to ensure compliance with legislation, and that they then become common practice. From our research, these are three take aways we advise those who are not currently compliant implement:

• Ensure your fire doorset specifications cover the whole lifecycle of a fire doorset and that they ensure the original design and test evidence is maintained.
• Seek 3rd Party verification from providers that they have ongoing capability to manufacture, install and maintain the solutions they propose, in line with the original design and test evidence.
• Risk assess and maintain your fire doorsets to reduce replacement costs, maintaining your evidence of compliance and performance.

Winkhaus Support

Creating compliant fire doorset specifications can be challenging for specifiers especially with the number and significance of changes to fire doorset legislation in recent years. We offer support for specifiers in creation of their specifications through consultation, training and with collateral, including compliance checklists, to simplify these changes and to support their fire compliance journey.

For further information on how we can help with your specifications, to request copies of our checklists, for information on the new ranges of external timber and composite fire doorset solutions or our expanded ranges of internal timber and composite fire doorset solutions, please contact marketing@winkhaus.co.uk

We recently shared our findings from research completed with Housing Management & Maintenance revisiting fire safety and compliance. The a full white paper can be found here to download.

Why Winkhaus?

Over the past decade the Winkhaus UK Technical Team have been involved in the creation and implementation of the latest standards and guidance for fire doorsets.

Winkhaus fire doorset solutions are manufactured through our partner network of over sixty 3rd Party certified companies. With our partner fabricators, we have one of the largest evidence banks of compliant solutions for both timber and composite internal and external fire doorsets, all independently audited by BM Trada as part of their Q Mark and UKCA Mark schemes. This not only ensures our test evidence is always compliant, but always expanding to provide the most comprehensive range of options for all your project requirements.

Our range of solutions includes both 30 minute and 60 minute fire doorset solutions, with our internal 30 minute solutions averaging 47 minutes performance, an average over 50% higher than the minimum allowed results and with several tests achieving over an hour’s performance.