Fire doors location in a dentist

[Lewis]

Evening,

I have been asked to fit a new fire door in a dentist clinic. I am an experienced carpenter with over 20 years experience and have my fire qual in maintenance and installation. I am fully aware on how fit a fire door and to follow the fire door fire certification sheet.

The door is located on the means of escape route and is a surgery room. It has multiple electrical items in there.

My question is will this need to be a fd30s due to the above ?.
 

It has a standard door at the moment which means it has no fire protection installed to the linear gap and the frame I can’t confirm its density so I would be changing that as well for a certificated one ensuring all products are compatible.

 

thanks in advance.

[Neil Ashdown MAFDI]

Its not the installers job to advise exactly where fire doors are required, that is a job for the Fire Risk Assessor. There should be a Fire Risk Assessment document for the building. Consult that document for information and if there's no relevant information there discuss this with the Fire Risk Assessor via your client.

[Lewis]

Thank you Neil, that is most helpful and appreciated for now and future.
I have contacted the client and they are forwarding me the latest fire risk report and the contact information for me to talk to them directly if I have any questions. 

[Mike North]

It is not the fire risk assessors’ job, it is the fire engineers’ job to design the fire strategy for the building. The risk assessor is there to assess the risks given how the building is operated on the day

[Neil Ashdown MAFDI]

The building may have changed. "On the day" is important.

[AnthonyB]

11 hours ago, Mike North said:

It is not the fire risk assessors’ job, it is the fire engineers’ job to design the fire strategy for the building. The risk assessor is there to assess the risks given how the building is operated on the day

Plenty of legacy building predate fire strategies and engineers and it was the fire service originally and now the risk assessor which determine adequate precautions. Building Regulations are one thing, but once the building is occupied they take a back seat and the fire regulations are quite clear that for occupied buildings the FRA decides what's needed

[Mike North]

It would appear that you have more faith in fire risk assessors than myself.  I have personally had discussions about the need for fire doors with assessors, even with a fire strategy drawing signed off by the regulator, no change of use they still insist a door should be a fire door.

Leave it to the designers, any material changes to a building should go through a review and be to building regulations (or compensatory factors put in place).  The fire strategy should be reviewed or created at this point and signed off taking a holistic approach, this is not the job of a fire risk assessor.

[AnthonyB]

Many in the fire sector have little faith in building control either! Anything other than major redevelopment rarely goes through Building Regs (even if it should) and fire strategies are still rare for pre-1991 projects (& missing in action over the years for many that don't). The Fire Safety Order and associated Secretary of State guidance make it clear that the assessment should determine if provisions are adequate and to remediate as appropriate - that there are too many risk assessors that don't actually risk assess or act holistically is another matter and I'd agree there is an issue there to address!