Door Industry Journal - Winter 2018

“ 114 THE door industry journal winter 2018 Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk Fire & Security “ Raise the Bar: An overview of ASSA ABLOY’s fire safety event The recent ‘Raise the Bar’ fire safety event, hosted by ASSA ABLOY UK in support of the British Woodworking Federation’s annual Fire Door Safety Week campaign, considered the importance of correct certification, compartmentation in buildings, and the steps required to install and regularly maintain fire doorsets across the building industry. Held at West Midlands Fire Service Headquarters in Birmingham, the event was well-received by over 70 building owners, facilities managers, contractors, risk assessors and door industry professionals who attended from across the country. Leading up to the event, ASSA ABLOY UK launched a thought-provoking whitepaper in response to Dame Judith Hackitt’s Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety which was then summarised and discussed by Brian Sofley, Managing Director of ASSA ABLOY Security Doors on the day. Brian highlighted: “Increasingly, we as an industry are finding that fire doors are not performing as they should. A lack of training and qualifications, combined with a complex supply chain and insufficient due diligence, means that far too many doorsets are failing. “Fire doors are often supplied as separate parts, meaning that the complete doorset can risk not meeting compliance once assembled. Add to this the fact there is no mandatory maintenance for the lifecycle of a fire doorset and it soon becomes clear why the industry as a whole has become disjointed.” The Grenfell Tower fire was a tragedy; one that sent a clear message that our current approach to fire safety in residential buildings is not functioning as intended. To address these issues, Brian suggested that fire doorsets should be supplied as complete doorset solutions, where the doors, frames, hardware, vision panels, seals and ironmongeries are supplied as compatible products from a single source. He clarified that this will drastically reduce the chance of certain elements failing and triggering a domino effect across the other doorset components, which can compromise fire door safety. Brian also proposed that the industry gets together as a collective in order to press the government to follow through with its proposal to create a new Joint Competent Authority (JCA). Further recommendations included the introduction of mandatory third-party accreditation of fire doorsets themselves,