Our Compliance Manager Alex Motley talks Fire Doors
It is a well known fact that after 100,000 inspections by the FDIS In 2019 a massive 76% of the fire doors were condemned. It is estimated that 40% of fire doors were condemned due to poor maintenance, 36% due to both poor maintenance and incorrect installation and overall 57% had small scale maintenance issues. The top three failures were excessive gaps, smoke sealing issues and poorly adjusted door closers.
As a manufacturer of fire doors we have a responsibility to ensure that not only do we meet the exacting standards of UK Fire regulation, but also the highest quality products required by our clients and, ultimately, for the public who use the facility. First impressions count, and our doors are designed to reflect the highest standards of care our clients provide. When you see an SDS door in situ it’s likely that Fire will not be the first consideration. Our doors are, primarily, attractive additions to the surrounding décor with a huge range of colours, shapes and styles; whether ultra-modern, bold, contrasting colours or the warm tones of Oak and Ash.
Delve deeper into the composition of an SDS door and you uncover a wealth of highest quality materials, each and every one tested to meet the stringent demands of UK fire certification, and independently tested and checked by our regulatory body BM Trada. We all know the dangers of fire, we have all seen the public information videos, training materials and, tragically, the news stories when fire prevention strategies fail. In the manufacture of fire doors there are no short cuts, no room for error. Essentially every door is a life saving device, designed to hold back fire and allow patients, many of whom will have mobility impairments, and care providers to evacuate safely. In short, a fire door cannot be allowed to fail, and SDS are specialists in ensuring this can never be the case.
Each one of our doors is manufactured, from the highest quality materials, in our purpose built factory using state of the art machinery. Our team are dedicated to ensuring each stage of production is completed to the highest standards, and if a part doesn’t meet our requirements, it doesn’t go into our doors. When we sign off a door at the end of the production process we do so in full confidence of its ability to withstand a fire situation and to function as an effective device assisting in evacuation, as well as being an impressive piece of furniture in its own right.
To witness a fire test in progress is both impressive and terrifying. Testing laboratories create intense infernos to which our doors, and all their component parts, are subjected to. Through the windows this raging fire is there to see and even in a test environment it’s a chilling reminder that when fire takes hold it’s destructive power can never be underestimated. Doors are wired up to temperature probes, cotton wool pads held to their edges, whilst a digital timer counts the seconds until a door passes it’s trial by fire. In this manner we can have absolute confidence in our doors to withstand the conditions of a fire to the specified level of resistance.
We sincerely believe we manufacture the best doors in the business and we would be delighted to discuss them further with you.
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