That All Important Six Month Health Check

Issue Date: 12 July 2007

THAT ALL IMPORTANT SIX MONTH HEALTH CHECK - FOR FIRE DOORS

Busy facilities and office managers are likely to find themselves on the front line for fire safety as a result of the new fire safety rules which came into effect last October. With the abolition of fire certificates, the new rules require the designation of a ’responsible person’ to carry out fire risk assessments designed to keep the occupants of a building safe if a fire does break out. And with this responsibility comes the longer term requirement to ensure that fire protection measures, such as fire doors, are properly maintained so that they perform their vital role should a fire break out. The bottom line is that if a fire door does fail because of lack of maintenance, the responsibility and liability for that failure could fall squarely on the shoulders of that ‘responsible person’.

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The BWF-CERTIFIRE Door and Doorset Scheme offers advice and help on every aspect of fire door specification, installation and maintenance. It recommends that all fire doors should have a regular six month health check and it has produced a Fire Door Maintenance Check List specially designed for Facilities Managers. This simple guide identifies all the components of a fire door with all the points to check to make sure that the door will do its job.

Richard Lambert, chief executive of the British Woodworking Federation (BWF) which runs the BWF-CERTIFIRE Scheme says “Taking responsibility for fire protection has potentially serious consequences for a facilities manager because it is literally about protecting people’s lives. Our Check List is designed to provide practical help in fulfilling that responsibility, giving very clear information about what to look for. We can also help with certificated fire door and component suppliers who can ensure that fire doors do meet all the fire safety regulations.”

The BWF-CERTIFIRE Fire Door and Doorset Scheme was established by a group of fire door manufacturers aiming to increase the standards of fire doors across the supply chain. The Scheme now has over 200 members, including component suppliers and Approved Fire Door Centres in some of the UK’s leading builders’ merchant chains.

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For a copy of the Fire Door Maintenance Check List, to find out more about the BWF-CERTIFIRE Scheme or for a Directory of Scheme members visit www.bwf.org.uk/firedoors, email [email protected] or call 0870 458 6939.

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Note for editor: The British Woodworking Federation is the leading representative body for the woodworking industry and builders’ joinery and represents leading manufacturers, distributors and installers of doors, windows, conservatories, staircases, architectural joinery, timber frame buildings and engineered timber components.

For further information, please contact: Maggie Young or Bronwen Pickering at Ideas PR on 020 7738 1900 [email protected] [email protected] :