Retrospective fire regulations

[kev]

I have some fd30  doors within a care facility with that only have 2 hinges fitted . Am I looking to install a third hinge to comply? or was 2 hinges once allowed and the legislation not retrospective when it comes to a FRA. ?

The fire brigade inspection did say that intumescent strips had to be fitted (since done) but no mention of hinge quantity.

[AnthonyB]

Technical standards can be retrospective for fire safety legislation purposes as the statutory bar was removed by the current legislation. The fire risk assessment should determine whether existing legacy precautions or remain adequate.

So it's not appropriate to blanketly require current standards nor is it OK to automatically assume that because something was OK xx years ago it is now.

A competent person would need to demonstrate why the existing standard of installation that isn't to current (or even the past for some time) specifications does not adversely affect safety. It is possible to do this, but it's not automatically the case.

The fire service are the backstop for the worst non conforming premises and will not carry out your FRA nor highlight anything other than the most severe issues so it's rare for them to go into that much detail on a door.