British Standards for Fire Doors

British Standard for Fire Doors

Fire doors must meet British Standards, Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: fire door guidance, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order: 2005 (RRO) and Regulation 38 of the Building Regulations (England and Wales).

They are in place to ensure lives are saved in the event of a fire, fire doors must have specific features such as fire resistance, smoke sealing features and an automatic closing system. It is vital they are properly maintained to ensure their continued effectiveness as it is reported over 10,000 fires in buildings excluding private homes and a 2019 inspection revealed 76% of fire doors failed their tests.

Who are the British Standards Institute?

In the current day, the British Standards Institution offers global services in standardisations, system assessments, ISO certification, training and business improvement courses.

The British Standard Institute is a non-profit organisation that was first developed in 1901, the first of its kind. A Royal Charter was granted in 1929 with aims to promote trade, reduce waste and protect the customer. It was in 1942 when the British Government officially recognised BSI as the sole organisation for issuing national standards and in 1945 the first and longest running BSI Kitemark licence was issues, for copper pipe fittings!

From the early nineties the BSI expanded rapidly by opening offices all over the world and continues to invest in the business to ensure the environment and health and safety are to a good quality.

The Approved Document B – Fire Safety

The Approved Documents are an official set of documents provided by the Secretary of State that give guidance on how to meet building regulations. Part B of the guidance relates to fire safety including means of escape, fire spread, structural fire protection and fire service access.

British Standards Codes of Practice for Fire Doors

There are a few British Standards codes of practice fire doors must meet to be considered safe in the event of a fire. Some of these coexist with European standards to ensure the safety of all in the building remain safe, resident, worker etc.

BS EN 1634 & BS 476

These are the standards for completed fire door assemblies across Europe and the UK. A fire door must meet these standards and all the component parts must be compliant of their own relevant standard and it must all be tested for fire resistance.

EN1634 – 1 Fire and EN1634 – 2 Test Procedures

These two standards apply to fire resistance and smoke control test which applies to doors and shutter assemblies, windows that open and building hardware. The second part includes fire resistance characteristics in elements of a building’s hardware.

EN1634 – 3 Smoke Permeability

The smoke control test determines the leakage of cold and warm smoke permeability from one side of the door to the other. This test applies to door and shutter assemblies, lift landing doors and conveyor system doors and shutters.

BS 8214:2016 Code of Practice for Fire Door Assemblies

This regulation is for the specification, installation, and maintenance of timber-based fire doors. It also applies to the fixtures and fittings which include but are not limited to timber-based hinged or pivoted pedestrian door assemblies or door leaves.

BS 9999:2017 Code of Practice for Fire Safety in the Design, Management and Use of Buildings

This code of practice ensures the safety of building occupants and fire-fighters, ensuring a reasonable standard of life safety can be achieved and is applicable to the design of new buildings, material alterations, extensions, and material use of an existing building.

The recent revisions include watermist fire suppression systems and expanding the guidance on voice alarms.

Keytek® Fire Doors

Here at Keytek® we are proud to offer fire door maintenance and replacement services across the nation. Find out more under our fire door advice page or contact us for more information.