Fire door inspection and surveys  

Fire door inspections play a crucial role in providing an effective barrier to the spread of fire, heat and smoke in buildings, safeguarding lives and preventing widespread damage.

It is essential that this first line of defence, designed to protect escape routes and give people valuable time to evacuate, is regularly inspected and maintained to ensure each fire door is in the best working condition and as tested by the manufacturers.

At Fire Consultancy Specialists, we have years of experience in ensuring the highest levels of fire safety in an array of sectors in buildings of all shapes and sizes, often with multiple numbers of fire doors, such as hospitals, schools and low and high-rise premises.

Find out how our experts can ensure your property’s fire doors are fully compliant with fire safety regulations and function properly in the event of an emergency.

Our fire door inspection and survey services: 

We offer a complete range of fire door inspection and survey services, ensuring they comply with fire safety regulations and pinpointing any defaults that compromise their performance.

Our step-by-step service will ensure:

The fire door has the correct rating for its location
The door is fitted properly to maintain the building’s fire compartmentation
Any damage that could affect its performance is flagged
It has the correct intumescent strips and smoke seals if required, and the glazing is properly fitted
The correct hardware and closers have been used – and they function correctly
The fire door is properly identified on its signage and in the building’s asset register

Our qualified professionals have years of experience in ensuring fire safety compliance and offer these services: 

Installation of fire doors to the highest standard
Regular fire door inspections to ensure compliance with national safety regulations
Detailed digital reports on a building’s fire door safety
Full maintenance schedule to keep the doors in full and safe working order

What is a fire door inspection survey?  

A fire door inspection survey is an essential component in the assessment of a building’s compliance with fire safety regulations.

A properly fitted and well-maintained fire door could be the difference between life and death, giving vital minutes to allow people to escape in the event of a fire – and minimise the resulting damage.

Our unparalleled digital fire door inspection checklist covers a huge number of features, requiring answers for up to 30 questions. We assess everything from the door seals to gaps in the door leaf fitting or cracks in the glazing to determine its fire rating and to ensure that any hardware, such as latches and hinges works properly.

We use our innovative digital software to inspect all the doors in a building, tagging them, taking photographs, dropping a pin on a virtual map that also contains the inspection certificate, and uploading all the relevant safety information to one online platform so the client can easily see all the information as needed. QR codes fixed to the physical doors also allow for quick and easy access to the status of the safety checks.

Such a thorough analysis, complete with detailed digital reports that can be accessed by the responsible person and the building’s managers, gives peace of mind that the doors are in proper working order.

We offer a first-class and comprehensive fire door inspection which is an alternative to BM Trada Q Mark. This survey is designed to provide the responsible person or a building manager with all the details they would need on the condition and compliance of the doors across their estate. This survey is completed independently of any maintenance contract, allowing the recipient to approach other contractors to provide costings for any remediations. The recipient can gather quotes from multiple places to find the best service and price to complete any works and bring the doors back to a compliant standard.

How do fire doors prevent a fire from spreading?

A vital feature of a fully functioning fire door is its intumescent strips that are fitted along the edges of the door or frame. These are made from a material that expands to fill the gap between the door and the frame when exposed to heat – sealing the room and stopping the fire’s spread. This also helps hold the door in its closed position as a fully developed fire can produce large amounts of pressure which could push a door open, allowing the fire to spread.

A fire door must be closed to act effectively in a fire, so a door closer must be fitted that is in full working order. Exceptions include risers or cupboards where the door would be shut and locked unless in use. Door hinges must be fire-rated and fire door signs fitted to both sides of the door in specific positions.

The testing and certification process identifies if a door can withstand fire for 30 or 60 minutes in the UK and is completed at UKAS accredited centres. It is good practice to have a door and surrounding walls that can withstand a fire for the same amount of time – important factors that need to be considered at the start of the design process in new buildings or refurbishment works and changes in existing properties

How often do fire doors need to be inspected?  

Regular inspections will verify that a fire door is compliant with the manufacturer’s test data, illustrating how the door should be installed and maintained. There are specific standards covering the installation, maintenance and ongoing performance of fire doors. 

As members of the accredited certification body BM TRADA, we use the UKAS accredited scheme for all our inspection, surveying and maintenance work when requested. That allows us to maintain or replace a current door set’s components based on the requirements and limitations of the scheme which can bring a door back into line with the certification or its test standards – or the fire resistance period that the door was expected to achieve.

Post-Grenfell, flat entrance doors for buildings over 11m must be inspected at least annually, following the recommendations in the Fire Safety regulations 2022 or a best endeavour practice must be implicated to record any failed attempts. Fire doors in communal areas, with more regular use, must be checked quarterly.

Our experts know everything there is to know about fire door safety, from installing an approved fire door set and later inspecting and testing its performance to a fully certified maintenance scheme.

When first appointed by a client to carry out a door condition survey on several fire doors in a building, we initially meet the responsible person to review the fire risk assessment or their fire line drawing that shows the compartmentation plans and what the fire resistance should be. This is a requirement of the BM Trada Q Mark scheme and an important stepping stone to the route of achieving compliance.

If a door is damaged and remains economically viable, we will use our authorised and recognised repair techniques based on strict and tested guidance from the Q Mark scheme to bring it back within the intended fire rating.

How can fire doors fail?

Inevitably, fire doors can suffer their fair share of damage that can compromise their safe functioning, particularly in high-traffic areas such as hospital corridors where the doors are in constant use. Even minor faults can impact the door’s ability to resist fire.

Wear and tear, incorrect installation and poor maintenance are the main culprits in why fire doors fail. Some fire doors may have been in situ for a decade and not been properly maintained. Others, in social housing or hospital settings, could be knocked by the likes of trolleys, mobility scooters, and even be damaged by people.

It is essential for the responsible person and the building owners to arrange regular inspections by qualified, competent professionals to be fully compliant with fire safety regulations.

Our specialists understand that all fire doors have a lifecycle – and know how to prolong it within the regulations. They use a data-driven approach to assessing and monitoring a fire door’s compliance and can make the necessary recommendations – and complete the work – to ensure its safe operation.

Are fire doors a legal requirement? 

Fire doors are a legal requirement in all non-domestic properties, such as commercial premises and public buildings, or in multi-occupancy premises such as low and high-level apartments.

Building owners are legally required to adhere to the requirements set out in the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the Fire Safety Regulation 2022, which covers the property’s fire safety provisions. 

Regular inspections of fire doors are required to keep the standard of fire safety in buildings, as stated in The Fire Safety Regulations 2022, Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order (RRFSO) 2005 in line with the minimal guidance as stated in BS8214 (c.13) and BS9999 (Annex L). 

Our accreditations 

Affiliation Of Fire Door Inspectors: 

Fire Consultancy Specialists is also a proud member of the AFDI, a not-for-profit organisation that exists to promote best practices among professional fire door inspectors.

UKAS Q Mark Fire Door Maintenance Colour clear UKAS

BM Trada fire door maintenance and installations: 

Fire Consultancy Specialists are approved under the BM Trada Q Mark scheme which is UKAS 3rd party accredited to complete fire door condition surveys under the BM Trada certification scheme. This involves an assessment of the company’s processes and procedures, as well as the skills and qualifications of its personnel. The assessment covers areas such as fire door inspections, repair and maintenance, installations and documentation and record-keeping. 

What can you expect from working with Fire Consultancy Specialists? 

We are proud of our data-driven approach and are constantly reviewing technological and software advances that will make our fire door inspections even more efficient and user-friendly for our clients.

We record our work on PlanRadar, the construction and real estate management software that creates streamlined digital checklists for efficient and thorough data collection. The resulting site drawings help us to pinpoint the exact locations of fire doors in a building, adding the information and photographs before generating a report after we have assessed their condition. 

Our company ethos is to always go above and beyond – we are passionate about delivering a first-class service by prioritising quality over quantity. Our friendly and professional team knows how to achieve the highest fire safety standards and we are constantly developing our own skills. 

Fire door case studies 

We work with clients across several sectors, including high and low-rise residential developers, social housing, youth centres, NHS hospitals, office developments, schools and universities, hotels and student accommodation.

In one hospital in Coventry, we test and inspect 2,600 fire doors twice yearly – a major undertaking that is planned to create the least disturbance to staff and patients as possible.