Door Industry Journal - Summer 2015

Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk THE door industry journal summer 2015 OPEN DOORS Providing safety training for our members is becoming an increasingly important priority for the Door & Hardware Federation. For almost two years, members of the DHF Powered Gate Group have been putting their employees through the powered gate safety diploma training course. So far, more than 380 people have successfully completed the two day course. Once a DHF member company has a trained member on its team, it can use the coveted DHF Safety Assured mark. This is an assurance to their customers that they have made a responsible and safe choice of powered gate supplier. So, what next? We are now well advanced with our plans to extend our safety training to other members of the DHF - principally companies involved in industrial doors and garage doors. Members who have put their staff through these courses will also be eligible to use the DHF Safety Assured logo. The industrial door safety diploma course will commence later this year It is a two day course and will be aimed primarily at supervisors, managers and installers. It is designed to ensure that member companies operate in full compliance with applicable legislation and achieve industry best practice. The garage door safety diploma course will begin shortly after the introduction of the industrial door course. Two courses will be available: a one day course delivered by DHF and a shorter course designed to dovetail into existing garage door manufacturers’ installation training schemes. For both industrial door and garage door members, the primary focus of the training package is on safety and compliance. Successful completion of the course demonstrates that the candidate has knowledge of all relevant safety legislation and standards. The courses also cover other aspects including risk assessment, documentation, repair & maintenance. Full details of the new training courses will be sent to members in the next few weeks and I will of course keep you up to date in future issues of the Door Industry Journal. Bob Perry, DHF CEO A regular comment column, brought to you by Bob Perry, CEO, Door and Hardware Federation For more information, please visit www.dhfonline.org.uk ARE YOU Q’D UP? For many years several trade associations and authorities have lobbied to add Security into Building Regulations in England. The Scottish Technical Handbook 2013 includes a requirement for doorsets to be made to PAS24, yet in England it was not needed, until now! Building Regulations Approved Document Part Q was published earlier this year and takes effect from 1st October 2015. It does not apply to work started before 1st October 2015, or work subject to a building notice, full plans application or initial notice submitted before that date provided the work is started in site before 1st October 2016. This document covers both windows and doors and calls up the latest product standards as the most straightforward way to prove compliance. Therefore external doorsets need to proof that they are manufactured to a design that has been tested to the security requirements of at least PAS24:2012 or another security standard set at a higher level. The regulations will apply to all doorsets providing access to a dwelling so includes main front doors to houses, rear doors, garage personnel doors, patio doors and French doors. It also includes communal entrance doorsets to buildings of multiple occupancy. The vehicular garage door would have to meet the requirements of Secured by Design if there is an interconnecting door from the garage to the house that was not PAS24 or better. A major point to note is that for the first time doorsets with letterplates will be expected to protect against what is commonly known as ‘fishing’. This means the doorset/letterplate design would have to hinder anyone attempting to remove keys from inside a property with sticks and/or reach their hand through the letterplate with the intention of committing a crime. West Yorkshire based, Ian Firth Hardware already have doorsets that meet these requirements and are continuing to expand our range of tested products to offer more choice to our customers in terms of doorset design. Please contact their sales teams for more details or to discuss particular needs. For any technical queries you may have with regards to Building Regulations or product standards Firth Hardware will be happy to offer guidance so please give them a call. Contact details: T 01924 438112 W www.ianfirth.co.uk