Glazed fire door - Can we avoid upgrading by evacuating quicker?

[Guest PGrah]

Good Morning,

I am attempting to seek some advice regarding one of our entrances to our business.

A few years ago, our business had a glazed front door installed with the mind set that it was Fire Resistant (FD30). We have been recently made aware that the glazed door is not fire resistant and have been requested to take suitable measures to bring the entrance into line with regulations. The position of our business means that the entrance in question comes out onto a fire evacuation staircase so there needs to be some form of fire prevention to ensure that people on the floors above can still use the staircase safely in the event of a fire.

Short of us replacing the door, would the installation of additional pre-warning systems be sufficient in adhering to regulations?

The thinking behind this is if additional systems were installed triggering alarms sooner in the event of a potential fire, the building will be cleared quicker meaning no potential risk to those attempting to escape past the entrance.

Would you be able to advise if this line of thinking would be sufficient enough or will the door have to be redone with the correct Fire Resistance?

Any advice would be very useful.

Kind Regards

[Tom Sutton]

Short of us replacing the door, would the installation of additional pre-warning systems be sufficient in adhering to regulations?

The thinking behind this is if additional systems were installed triggering alarms sooner in the event of a potential fire, the building will be cleared quicker meaning no potential risk to those attempting to escape past the entrance.

In principle The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 is all about fire risk assessment and the above is just that. However the DCLG guidance on offices and shops ( download from this link http://www.firesafe....ety-order-2005/ ) provides the benchmark and requires all escape staircases to be full protected. If you could provide a safe alternative to this then it may be acceptable.

Principles are one thing consider the practical issues,

1. How would you achieve this pre-alarm and give sufficient time for the building to be evacuated before the fire affected the staircase.

2. You must consider how long it would take to evacuate the building.

3. Have you considered the radiation risk from this door to people attempting to pass this door.

4. The costs between a new FDs 30 door and the additional systems you propose.

Personally I think a new FDs 30 would be the best option.