There has been intense scrutiny again on Fire Doors in the wake of Grenfell. Last week we saw the a number of reports published as part of the inquiry (running into thousands of pages). The important one that everybody in the world of Fire Door should take note of is Dr Barbara Lane’s Fire Door Report that you can download here. BWF continues to work closely with both BEIS and MHCLG in supporting improvements. It was good to see this recognised in a letter to myself, which stated:
“The British Woodworking Federation’s involvement with promoting safety in the building industry and the work the federation has been doing with regards to fire doors specifically is highly regarded. I am grateful for your organisation’s continued support.”
Rt Hon James Brockenshire Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
The meeting invited us in to meet with officials on the 18th June to discuss views on how we can best implement the necessary changes. You can view the full letter here
We also saw this week a Freedom on Information Request from the Huffington Post which underpins BWF’s own vies on the scale of replacement that is required. In reaction to the Huffington Post article that suggests up to 1 million fire doors may need to be replaced we put out the following quote to the press:
“Through the Freedom of Information requests, we are finally starting to see councils across the UK wake up to the fact that thousands of fire doors now need to be replaced and are seeing “expert opinions” bandied around like one million doors need to be replaced, when the truth is that even this may be a conservative evaluation.Fuelled by a loose regulatory environment, a lack of skills and onsite knowledge as well as endemic value engineering meaning that specifications are regularly adjusted, and no meaningful inspection or maintenance once fire doors are installed, building owners and managers have inadvertently created a fire safety nightmare.The prevalent and widespread problems reported in Grenfell Tower, before and since the tragic events of a year ago, are all too common. Although much of the focus has been on cladding, reports have highlighted that faulty fire door installations may also need to shoulder some of the blame. We therefore must reboot the system, repair and replace existing fire door, which is why a Building Safety Fund is essential. Providing the vital funds for these life-saving works, the Building Safety Fund would allow councils and housing associations access to finances required for refurbishments.The BWF is currently working on addressing the learnings to be taken from recent tragedies and lobbying policy holders and politicians to implement the much-needed changes that are required to future proof fire safety in the UK. Fire door installation and maintenance has been a core message of Fire Door Safety Week and will continue to be so throughout 2018 and beyond.”
Fire Door Safety Week is taking place 24th -30th September you can register your support via www.firedoorsafetyweek.co.uk
