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Third Party Fire Door Accreditation

Why Is Third Party Accreditation Important?

Third Party Fire Door Accreditation gives you peace of mind that your fire door specialist has the required knowledge and skills to undertake work on fire doors. Here at Worksmart, we are registered with two UKAS accredited schemes – the Fire Door Inspection Scheme (FDIS) and BM Trada Q Mark. We undergo regular reassessment and bi-annual audits of our training and business processes as well as the work we have done on site, which includes fire door inspection, maintenance and installation.

By using our expertise and experience you know you are doing everything you can to safeguard your buildings and its occupants. These Third Party Accreditations are the best way to determine a legitimate Fire Door specialist.

What is the UKAS Fire Door Accreditation Scheme?

UKAS stands for UNITED KINGDOM ACCREDITATION SERVICE. It is the UK’S sole National Accreditation Body, responsible for determining, in the public interest, the technical competence and integrity of organisations such as those offering testing, calibration and certification services. Fire Door Accreditation by UKAS demonstrates the competence, impartiality and performance capability of these evaluators. In short, UKAS ‘checks the checkers’. UKAS is a non-profit-distributing private company, limited by guarantee and is independent of Government.

Fire Door Inspection Scheme and BM Trada Q Mark

Worksmart is approved for fire door inspection, maintenance and installation by the FDIS and BM Trada Q Mark – both UKAS accredited bodies.

The BM Trada Q Mark Schemes for Fire Door Installation & Fire Door Maintenance are UKAS accredited schemes designed to ensure that these tasks are carried out to the highest standards and provide a means of certifying the work to the building owner/responsible person.

Membership of these schemes entails initial training and examination to ensure the standards are met and ongoing, 6 monthly audits of training, records and actual work conducted to ensure those standards are maintained.

Worksmart are members of both of these schemes, which means our customers can rest assured that they have taken all reasonable steps to comply with their obligations to appoint ‘competent persons’ to ‘ensure relevant equipment (fire doors) are kept in an efficient state’ – as defined by law.

The Responsible Person for Fire Doors

All non-domestic premises are required by law to have a ‘Responsible Person’ that is responsible for fire safety management. The definition of ‘non-domestic premises’ includes homes of multiple occupation (HMO’s), care homes, student residences and high-rise residential buildings (HRRB’s).

The ‘responsible person’ could be the landlord, leaseholder, employer, building owner or facilities manager – anyone with an element of control over a premises. The law does not expect these people to be fire safety experts, but it does expect them to use properly competent professionals to ensure fire safety equipment is maintained and fit for purpose.

So, unless they are themselves accredited, all ‘responsible persons’ should engage a third party certificated fire door specialist.

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Most Commonly Believed Fire Door Myths

Fire Door Myths

We’re living in a world of ignorance and misinformation. In the case of Fire Doors and Fire Safety, myth and misinformation can lead to legal repercussions or even death. The problem is, there are so many regulations and standards it isn’t easy for non-fire safety professionals to keep abreast of them. Here, we try to dispel some of the most common fire door myths and help you avoid the pitfalls of faulty or non-compliant Fire Doors.

Fire Door Myth 1: Fire Proof Paint Makes a Door a Fire Door

This is a classic and unfortunately one that is still widely believed. No, paint alone will never be able to make a door fire proof. Simply painting a door does not comply with the necessary laws and regulations surrounding Fire Doors. For example, paint will not close gaps around the door or prevent non-compliant hinges from failing.

Fire Door Myth 2: I Can Fit a Fire Door Myself

Fire Doors should be fitted by an experienced and certified Fire Door technician. This is to ensure not only that the job is done correctly, but that the Fire Door is fully compliant and up to current standards. Only when you have employed the services of a qualified technician can you be truly secure in the knowledge that you won’t face any legal consequences and that you are compliant with the law.

Fire Door Myth 3: As a landlord, Fire Doors are my tenants’ responsibility

As the landlord, you are considered to be the ‘responsible person’. This means it is you who is responsible for taking reasonable steps to reduce the risk from fire and making sure people can safely escape if there is a fire under the fire safety legislation of 2005.

Fire Door Myth 4: By fitting larger doorstops, standard doors will become Fire Doors

Another of the great fire door myths: No matter how many doorstops you employ for this plan, your standard door will not become a Fire Door! If the door does not have a test certificate and has not been fitted according to the manufacturer’s instructions (which are designed to replicate the fire test), then it is not a fire door. There is no compromise on this standard.

Fire Door Myth 5: None of this has anything to do with me – I am not responsible for any Fire Doors

All non-domestic premises are required to adhere to the Fire (Scotland) Act or Regulatory Reform Order of 2005. If you don’t adhere to this, you risk prosecution and in the worst-case scenario, your negligence is putting people’s lives at risk.

Can you honestly say you didn’t previously believe any of these fire door myths? If you’d like to learn more about Fire Doors and what your responsibilities may be, get in touch and we can discuss your circumstances and advise you. 

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What’s the Difference Between Passive and Active Fire Protection?

fire compartmentation fail

What Is Passive Fire Protection?

Basically, Passive Fire Protection is fire protection that is completely passive. It does not require any stimulus in order to do its job. A 60-minute fire screen constructed using the appropriate plasterboards and insulation will resist a fire merely by virtue of its construction and materials. It is essential to create and maintain fire compartmentation in buildings (which is intended to contain fire within the source zone and prevent spread).

COMPARTMENTATION

Good compartmentation within a building will help to limit the spread of a fire from one room to the next. By compartmentalising a fire, we can mitigate the damage caused to a building and make it easier for fire fighting professionals to extinguish the blaze.

Effective Compartmentation:

  • Restricts spread of fire, heat, and smoke by containing it in a single compartment
  • Protects escape routes and providing crucial escape time for occupants
  • Prevents further structural damage to a building

FIRE STOPPING – this means making sure that any breaches in a compartment wall/floor/ceiling are filled and sealed with appropriate materials in an appropriate manner to prevent the spread of fire and smoke. These breaches may be caused by cables, pipes, ventilation ducts, etc. We offer 4 types of fire stopping, as follows:

  • Penetration Seals – where cables, pipes, etc. pass through compartment walls/floors
  • Linear Joint Seals – where fire rated panels meet, between door frames & surrounding wall, etc.
  • Cavity Barriers – under raised access floors or above ceiling grids.
  • Air Transfer Grilles – between compartments (these will have intumescent blocks in them that expand and close the grille).

All of the services provided by Worksmart Fire Door Inspection – fire doors and fire stopping – are passive fire protection elements. Of course, some of the components of a fire doors are activated by heat (intumescent products) and expand to close gaps and prevent the door from moving under the extreme pressures caused by a fire – but they are classified as passive because, when closed, they form an integral part of the compartment barrier.

What is Active Fire Protection?

ACTIVE fire protection systems, on the other hand either require power/data stimulus in order to work. These would include simple smoke/fire alarms like you would put in your own house, complex zonal fire alarm systems in commercial buildings, sprinkler systems (which can be linked to fire alarm systems or be activated by heat), automatic dampers in ventilation systems that shut the ventilation shafts to prevent passage of smoke, etc.

Worksmart Fire Door Inspection Services

INDEPENDENT FIRE DOOR INSPECTION – completely independent survey/assessment of fire doors to provide a detailed report of the condition, compliance and functionality. Accredited under the FDIS scheme.

FIRE DOOR MAINTENANCE – maintenance of existing fire doors using UKAS approved repair techniques to ensure fire doors remain functional, despite the abuse they are subjected to. Accredited under the BM Trada Q Mark Fire Door Maintenance Scheme.

FIRE DOOR INSTALLATION – installation of new fire doors. Accredited under the BM Trada Q Mark Fire Door Installation Scheme.