Last month, our Managing Director, Alex Mamas Dip GAI, MGAI, RegAI, was approached by a London university to undertake an invasive fire door ironmongery inspection. The alarming results revealed an all-too-common lack of understanding when it comes to choosing ironmongery for fire doors, which puts lives at risk.

Case study: fire door ironmongery inspection conducted at a London university
The university advised that over the last two years (and still ongoing) they had spent a significant amount with a contractor who specialises in the installation of fire doors. This was to install many new door sets and carry out remedial works needed on existing doors.
The door assemblies were purchased from a large, very well-known door manufacturer, who have their fire doors tested to BS 476 Part 22. This company specify the standards that each ironmongery product must comply with to enable the fire door certification to be valid.
To assist with this, they provide an installation guide to accompany the self-certification certificate. This certificate is signed by the contractor and then passed onto the end user/ building owner once the door has been installed.
Within the university campus there was a combination of FD30 and FD60 doors installed. Alex undertook his inspection, checking components such as:
Door hinges
Locks and latches
Door closing mechanisms, both surface mounted and concealed
Lever action flush bolt
Door handles
Fire door seals and signage
The findings: an alarming truth uncovered
In brief the findings, which were quite alarming, were as follows:
Hinges
At least 40% of the fire doors inspected had either no intumescent hinge pads or had the incorrect thickness pad fitted.
Locks and latches
Many of the fire doors either had no intumescent kits installed or they were of the wrong thickness. The fire door manufacturer clearly specifies within the installation guide that a material thickness of 1mm for FD30 doors and 2mm for FD60 doors is required. Where fitted, the fire door installer had used 0.8mm on all door types.
Door closing mechanisms
Budget “rack and pinion” overhead surface mounted door closers were fitted. Whilst these have been tested to BS EN 1154 and are Warrington Certifire approved, this is only when fitted in the Fig.1 application (fitted PULL side). However, the manufacturer of the door closer supplies, as standard, a Fig. 6 bracket (fitted PUSH side) which, when installed this way, has no fire door certification.
In addition to this issue, when undertaking random checks using a newton meter gauge none of the closers met the requirements of the Equality Act BS 8300 approved by Document M. This requires the force needed to open the door to be at a level to allow people with disabilities to use the door. All doors failed, needing more force than allowed to be opened.
Also, many of the FD60 doors had been installed with the Synergy S1036 concealed door closer. Every unit inspected was missing its mono ammonium phosphate intumescent gasket set.
Flush bolts
These need to comply with BS EN 12051. There are only a couple of manufacturers which supply flush bolts with this standard. This is then laser etched on the reverse of the product. None of the flush bolts inspected had the BS EN standard or any intumescent kits installed.
Lever handles
Within the certification and installation guide it states that lever handles must comply with BS EN 1906. This is an 8 digit coding system where the door handle undergoes various tests including fire resistance, durability and corrosion.
The lever handles installed by the fire door installer were a known product, however they have no test data. When checking with the UK distributor they confirmed that it had NOT been tested to any BS EN standard.
Alex then spoke again with the door manufacturer, who confirmed that if the lever handle has not been tested to the standard required then the door assembly will NOT have a valid fire door certificate.

Signs and seals
It was noted that there was a lack of drop-down smoke seals and intumescent seals to many fire only and fire and smoke doors.
There were also pairs of doors fitted with Dorma EMB electro-magnetic hold open floor springs which, when the fire alarm is sounded, closes the door automatically. These doors had been fitted with “Fire door keep shut” signs rather than the correct “Automatic fire door keep clear” signs.
How can you to avoid the consequences of non-compliant fire door ironmongery?
Unfortunately, this visit is just one of many similar ones Alex has undertaken which clearly illustrates the lack of understanding when it comes to choosing ironmongery for fire doors. Too often cheap, non-compliant products are fitted.
It is important to speak with professionals within the industry, who are members of the Guild of Architectural Ironmongers (GAI), who can give correct and detailed advice before specifying or buying ironmongery and do not rely on a brief description found on the Internet, in a catalogue or verbal advice given from non-qualified or inexperienced individuals.
View our requirements of a fire door guide for additional information.

Alex has over 40 years’ experience within the industry and obtained his Guild of Architectural Ironmongery Diploma after taking a four year course. Indeed, within the technical sales team of at Poole Waite we have over 191 years of experience within the architectural ironmongery trade and ensure we keep fully up to date with the frequent changes in Standards.
If you ever need assistance with any ironmongery related issue, please do make contact to ensure you obtain correct and proper advice.
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