Fire safety isn’t the kind of thing that you can scrimp on. The safety of your staff, clientele, stock and equipment calls for significant measures to be taken against the risk of blazes. Engineering, pharmaceutical, retail and food-based workplaces all come with distinct fire risks, with safety regulations your responsibility to follow. That’s why you need to install high-quality fire shutter doors.
But how do you tell a good fire door from a bad one? What are the features you should look to for certainty of safety? This article will explore some of the most essential features to keep an eye out for when door shopping. By the end, you should feel much more confident searching for blaze-proof barriers in your work setting.
Fire doors need strong radiant heat fortification
Radiant heat fortification is the bare minimum you need from your fire shutters. This means following strict construction and material (generally powder-coated galvanised steel) principles that block fires and contain the heat itself. The way to check for the radiant heat reduction and fortification is through the use of kW figures. For example, high-quality construction will be able to reduce the radiant heat levels around the door from 65kW per square metre to just 2.7kW per square meter.
For context in a literal sense, this means combustible materials would be storable half a metre away from a 1,200°C blaze on the other side of the door. This sort of fortification is vital for compartmentalising fires and reducing spreads. This also allows for firefighters to tackle the blaze right next to the door, with escaping parties walking past without being at risk due to radiant heat.
Fire shutter doors need simple controls
During a fire, you obviously can’t be handling internal fire doors manually. That’s why you need a dependable, simple control panel for reliable operation to open and close the door from a distance. These systems should be customisable, ensuring fire internal doors can work through a range of activation methods. Easy-to-use operation through custom control panels is essential for the smooth and efficient evacuation of workplaces in emergencies, along with further containing the fire itself. These control panels should also include manual override options, just in case.
Installations must meet fire door regulations
It’s important that any fire shutter doors you install follow government fire door regulations. These guidelines aren’t just for compliance, but also set standards that will keep your workplace safer. Other compliance requirements to look out for include:
- LPCB-certified electric operations
- LPS 1056 design regulations
- BS476 compliance requirements
These requirements might not even all be related to fire safety, but all contribute to safer, higher-quality fire shutter doors overall.
Fire doors should have simple maintenance requirements
Fire doors are supposed to be installed in service of you and your workplace, so you don’t want a set that requires excessive cleaning and maintenance. Check for low-maintenance models that you can mostly set and forget to ensure that minimal time is wasted on upkeep.
Look for a provider that offers fire door service, repair & maintenance
Along with your own basic maintenance tasks, doors will occasionally need servicing, touch-ups and repairs. That’s why you need to seek out a supplier that offers comprehensive services in this field, including everything from regular check-ins to emergency call-outs. This kind of OEM knowledge is essential for after-care that maintains your fire shutter doors down the line.
