BWF holds more seminars on Fire Doors

The BWF-CERTIFIRE Fire Door and Doorset Scheme has continued its programme of fire door education with a seminar with the Wessex Area of NAHFO (The National Association of Health Care Fire Officers held at St James’ Hospital, Portsmouth (Jan 14). “We’ve been asked to deliver our programme of seminars and workshops to a wide range of audiences, including H.M. Prison Service, the HMO Network, facilities management companies and the National Health Service  throughout 2009 and into 2010”, says John Fletcher – BWF-CERTIFIRE Scheme marketing manager. “Our programme is targeted at all managers who are experiencing fire door issues particularly in relation to the Regulatory Reform Order 2005”. “Typically, we find that many managers are inheriting issues caused by the poor specification and installation of fire doors, and a lack of understanding on how fire doors work, and why”. “It’s an issue which is ocurring over and over again” he continued. “To quote a recent email to Most of the buildings we risk assess are older properties and it seems that the reasons many fire doors are in poor condition stems from a lack of understanding on the part of the responsible persons as to what they are there for. This leads to a lack of commitment for maintenance. 
Clearly, education is the key but in the past, people have not been interested in finding out more. However, the RRO has made them realize that it is down to them particularly if they form part of the management company and as more organizations bring themselves into line by conducting fire risk assessments.’