Fire doors play a crucial role in ensuring the safety of building occupants by preventing the spread of fire and smoke. In the UK, there are stringent regulations governing the installation, maintenance, and inspection of fire doors. This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about UK fire door regulations.

What Are the UK Regulations Around Fire Doors?

The primary regulations governing fire doors in the UK include:

1. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (FSO)

2. Building Regulations

3. British Standard

Why Are Fire Doors a Regulated Industry?

Fire doors are a regulated industry due to their critical role in ensuring fire safety and protecting lives and property in the event of a fire. Here are the key reasons why fire doors are subject to stringent regulations:

Key Reasons for Regulations

1. Life Safety:
   • Protection of Occupants: Fire doors are designed to prevent the spread of fire and smoke, providing safe escape routes and compartments within buildings. This is crucial for allowing occupants to evacuate safely.
   • Reduction of Fire-Related Injuries and Fatalities: By containing fire and smoke, fire doors help reduce the risk of injuries and fatalities caused by burns, smoke inhalation, and structural collapse.
2. Property Protection:
   • Containment of Fire: Fire doors help to contain fire within a specific area, limiting damage to the building and its contents. This containment helps protect valuable assets and reduce overall property loss.
   • Protection of Critical Infrastructure: In buildings housing critical infrastructure, such as data centres, laboratories, and industrial facilities, fire doors play a vital role in protecting sensitive equipment and operations.

Insurance companies often require buildings to have adequate fire protection measures, including fire doors, to minimise the risk of fire damage and associated claims.

Internal and External Fire Door Regulations

Internal and external fire doors serve different roles in fire safety, leading to distinct regulatory requirements for their design, installation, and performance. Internal fire doors focus on compartmentalising spaces within a building and protecting escape routes.

External fire doors protect the building from external fire sources, such as adjacent buildings or outdoor fire hazards. External fire doors must also address environmental durability, security, and accessibility concerns. Compliance with these regulations is essential for ensuring the safety and integrity of the building and its occupants during a fire.

The requirements for fire doors in domestic and non-domestic buildings differ due to the distinct purposes, occupancy types, and associated fire risks of these buildings. 

Regulations for Installing Fire Doors

Installing fire doors involves complying with specific regulations and standards to ensure they provide the necessary protection in the event of a fire. Here are the regulations for installing fire doors in the UK:

1. Building Regulations 2010 – Approved Document B (Fire Safety):
   • Volume 1: Dwellings
   • Volume 2: Buildings other than dwellings
2. British Standards:
   • BS 476-22: Fire Tests on Building Materials and Structures – Methods for determination of the fire resistance of non-loadbearing elements of construction.
   • BS EN 1634-1: Fire Resistance and Smoke Control Tests for Door and Shutter Assemblies, Openable Windows, and Elements of Building Hardware.
3. Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005:
   • Requires responsible persons to ensure fire safety measures, including fire doors, are adequate and maintained.

What are the Requirements for Installing Fire Doors

Fire Resistance Ratings

Fire doors must have a specified fire resistance rating, such as FD30 (30 minutes) or FD60 (60 minutes), indicating the duration they can withstand fire.

Door Sets

Fire doors should be installed as complete door sets, including the door leaf, frame, and associated hardware, all tested together to ensure compliance.

Intumescent Seals

Fire doors must be fitted with intumescent seals around the edges. These seals expand when exposed to heat, sealing gaps to prevent the spread of fire and smoke.

Self-Closing Devices

Fire doors must have self-closing devices to ensure they close automatically and form an effective barrier during a fire.

Hold-open devices, if used, must be linked to the fire alarm system to release and allow the door to close when the alarm is triggered.

Glazing

Any glazing in fire doors must be fire-resistant and meet the same fire rating as the door.

Intumescent glazing beads must be used to secure the glass.

Hardware

All hardware, including hinges, locks, and latches, must be fire-rated and capable of withstanding the same fire conditions as the door.

Fire doors must have appropriate signage indicating their purpose, such as “Fire Door – Keep Shut” or “Fire Door – Keep Locked”.

Gaps and Clearances

The gap between the door and the frame should typically be around 3mm to ensure the door closes properly and the seals are effective.

The gap at the threshold should not exceed 10mm for smoke control doors and 3mm for fire-rated doors.

Professional Installation

Fire doors should be installed by professionals who are trained and experienced in fire door installation to ensure compliance with regulations and standards.

Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for installation, as these will include specific requirements for fitting the door set and ensuring its fire resistance capabilities.

Documentation and Certification

Maintain records of the fire door’s certification, installation, and maintenance to demonstrate compliance with regulations and facilitate inspections.

Compliance and Enforcement

Local authority building control departments or approved inspectors ensure compliance with the Building Regulations during the construction and renovation of buildings.

Fire safety officers may conduct inspections to ensure compliance with the Fire Safety Order 2005, including the adequacy and condition of fire doors.

Fire Door Maintenance and Inspection Regulations

Regular maintenance and inspection of fire doors are vital to ensure they function correctly in the event of a fire. By following a structured maintenance schedule, training staff, and keeping detailed records, building owners and managers can ensure their fire doors provide the necessary protection and comply with regulatory requirements. Regular checks and timely repairs are essential for maintaining the effectiveness and integrity of fire doors throughout their lifespan.

British regulations around fire safety:

British Standards for Fire Doors

1. BS 476-22: 

2. BS EN 1634-1: 

3. BS 8214: 

4. BS 9999

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005: Fire Door Inspections

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (often referred to as the Fire Safety Order or FSO) is a key piece of legislation in the UK that places responsibility on building owners and managers to ensure fire safety within their premises. This includes the regular inspection and maintenance of fire doors. Here’s a detailed overview of the requirements for fire door inspections under the FSO:

Key Provisions of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005

Responsible Person:

• The FSO designates a “responsible person” (RP), typically the employer, owner, or occupier of the premises, who is accountable for fire safety.

Maintenance and Inspection:

• The RP is responsible for ensuring that fire safety equipment, including fire doors, is maintained in good working order.
• Regular inspections and maintenance should be conducted to ensure fire doors are effective in preventing the spread of fire and smoke.

Fire Door Inspection Requirements

Frequency

Regular Inspections: Fire doors should be inspected regularly. While the FSO does not specify exact intervals, a common best practice is every six months, or more frequently in high-traffic areas.

Record Keeping

Documentation

• Inspection Records: Keep detailed records of all fire door inspections, including the date, findings, actions taken, and any parts replaced.
• Maintenance Log: Maintain a log of maintenance activities to demonstrate ongoing compliance and facilitate future inspections.

Compliance and Enforcement

Enforcement Authorities

• Fire and Rescue Authorities: These bodies have the power to inspect premises and enforce compliance with the FSO.
• Penalties for Non-Compliance: Failure to comply with the FSO can result in enforcement notices, fines, and, in severe cases, imprisonment.

Best Practices for Compliance

• Ensure inspections are carried out by trained and competent individuals who understand fire door components and their role in fire safety.
• Provide training for staff on the importance of fire doors and how to spot potential issues.
• Stay informed about updates to fire safety regulations and standards to ensure ongoing compliance.

Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 were placed on the statute book on 18 May 2022, and came into force on 23 January 2023. The regulations implement the majority of those recommendations made to government in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report which require a change in the law.

Responsible Persons, including both building owners (for example freeholders) and other persons having control of the premises (for example managing agents) were required to comply with the regulations from 23 January 2023. Any breach of the regulations is a criminal offence if the breach places one or more relevant persons (for example residents, staff or visitors) at risk of death or serious injury in the event of fire.

What the law requires

1. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (as amended) (‘the FSO’) requires that, in a block of flats, there are suitable fire precautions in place to make sure that the common parts are safe to use as a means of escape in the event of fire. The appropriate fire precautions are determined by carrying out a fire risk assessment.

2. As this is a legal requirement under Article 9 of the FSO, you should have already made sure that a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment has been carried out; if there is no fire risk assessment in place, you must arrange for this to be carried out as soon as is practicably possible.

3. Fire-resisting doors (fire doors) are one of the most important measures to safeguard the means of escape from fire. Your fire risk assessment should already have identified the doors in question and determined whether the doors are adequate to resist the spread of fire and smoke into, or within, the common parts. You should have already taken steps to maintain doors in good order, and where it has been found that the existing door is inadequate and needs to be replaced, this must be done by a competent person.
4. As with all fire safety measures, fire doors need to be kept in good working order and in good repair. Wear and tear, for example, can result in defects. The objective of regulation 10 is to ensure that such defects do not materially undermine the ability of the doors adequately to prevent fire and smoke spread, whether to the extent originally designed or as verified as adequate in the most recent fire risk assessment.

The role of fire doors

In general, fire doors within a block of flats fall into four categories, namely:

• flat entrance doors: these are particularly important, because, in blocks of flats, most fires occur within the flats themselves, and the flat entrance door prevents the spread of fire and smoke into the common parts, thereby placing other residents at risk
• doors to stairways and lobbies (between corridors and stairways): these keep the stairways and lobbies free from fire and smoke, so that they can safely be used by residents and others who might need to leave the building during a fire, and to assist firefighters during firefighting operations
• doors that sub-divide corridors: these are to limit the spread of fire and smoke throughout, for example, a long corridor
• doors to plant rooms and cupboards (for example containing electrical distribution equipment) and to service risers (shafts which allow the vertical passage of cables, pipes)

Information for residents: what you need to do

2. Residents have an important role to play in ensuring that, if there is a fire in their flat, the flat entrance door is an effective barrier to the spread of fire and smoke into the common parts.

3. Regulation 10 requires that residents are given information that:

• fire doors should be kept shut when not in use;
• residents or their guests should not tamper with self-closing devices;
• residents should report any fault or damage immediately to the Responsible Person.

4. The above information must be provided by the Responsible Person to any new resident as soon as reasonably practicable after the resident moves into their flat. The Responsible Person must also remind all residents about this information at periods not exceeding 12 months starting from when the regulations come into force.

5. Where a resident wants to alter or change their front door, this should be done with the knowledge and agreement of the Responsible Person to ensure that it does not negatively impact upon the overarching fire risk assessment for the premises.

Routine checking of fire doors: what you need to do

6. Regulation 10 requires that, if the top storey of the building is above 11m in height (typically, a building of more than four storeys) the Responsible Person must:

• use best endeavours to check all flat entrance fire doors at least every 12 months; and
• carry out checks of any fire doors in communal areas at least every 3 months.

7. The government is committed to ensuring that undue burdens are not created for freeholders and, through service charges, for leaseholders. Accordingly, for the purpose of the fire door checks required by the Fire Safety (England) Regulations, it can be assumed that the Responsible Person has evidence that the design, specification and installation of the door is adequate for its location or is taking separate measures to deal with any inadequacies in inherent fire performance; identification of issues in relation to the type of door and its intended resistance to fire and smoke is a matter for your fire risk assessment.

8. The checks under regulation 10 should be simple and basic. You should not need to engage a specialist to carry these out. With appropriate instruction, caretakers, managing agents, housing officers and maintenance personnel should be able to do them (for example in the course of other routine checks and visits to the building) as the checks are only visual and do not involve, for example, use of tools.

9. The Responsible Person will need to ensure that the necessary arrangements are in place to address any issues identified. The extent to which the individual appointed to carry out the checks will also be able to address the issues or complete any repairs will be determined by their skills, knowledge and experience of fire doors. Where inspections identify the need for repair or replacement of any fire door (for example communal or flat entrance door), this work must be undertaken by a competent contractor as soon as reasonably practicable.

Flat entrance doors

10. To check flat entrance doors, you will need access to each flat, so that the door can be checked on both sides. Arrangements should be made with residents in advance to carry out these checks. You could consider offering a range of times, so that residents can be present. Other than in very small blocks of flats, it is unlikely that all doors can be checked on a single occasion.
11. Regulation 10 requires that, over every 12 month period, you keep a record of the steps taken to check flat entrance doors. In any cases when access to a flat was not granted, this must also be detailed. Ultimately, you might need to consider legal action if a resident persistently refuses to cooperate with these checks. It may be useful to pre-plan the checks that need to be undertaken. For example, this could take the form of a checklist, on which you can record the outcome of each check. A sample checklist is included as an appendix to this guide. You could also use electronic means to plan and record checks.

12. Each time you carry out fire door checks, you should check that:

1. The resident has not replaced a fire-resisting flat entrance door with a new, non- fire-resisting door; this may be obvious if the door is of a different design from all other doors in the building but may not be where flat entrance doors are all of a different design. Where any doubt exists, the resident will need to confirm that the new door is fire-resisting, has been installed by a competent person, and they will be required to provide the technical information relating to the door to the Responsible Person. Modern fire doors should display a visible fire resistance rating (see photo 2).

2. Letterboxes are firmly closed and not jammed open. Where a letterbox has been fitted to a door that did not previously have one, the resident will need to confirm that the new letterbox is suitable for use in fire-resisting doors and has been fitted by a specialist contractor.

3. There is no damage to, or defects in, the door, frame or the securing wall that might affect the ability to resist the spread of fire or smoke (for example a split in the wood of a timber fire door, damage to any glazing in the door, warping of the door that affects its fit in its frame, a hole where a lock has been removed). Doors should also be checked for any alterations that may affect their fire resisting qualities.

4. The condition of the fire-resisting glass and glazing system in the door panels, and any associated side or over panels forming part of the doorset, retains their ability to resist the spread of fire and smoke.

5. There are no obvious defects in the hinges (for example missing or loose screws), or any other element of the ironmongery (for example ventilation grilles).

6. Intumescent strips (which expand when exposed to fire and seal gaps around the door) and smoke seals (which look similar to draught seals), if present, are undamaged, make contact with the door edge or frame, and have not been painted over during decoration activities. (If they were not originally present, this may be acceptable, subject to the findings of the fire risk assessment.) These strips and seals may be fitted to either the door or the frame, and they are normally combined.
7. The gap between the door and the frame is not too large. The industry standard is that the gap size should never be more than 4mm, except at the bottom of the door, where the gap should be as small as practicable, while ensuring that the door is unlikely to snag on the floor even if the door drops slightly on the hinges. Simple “gap tester” cards are available for this purpose.

8. There is an effective self-closing device on fire doors of flat entrances and fire doors within common parts (see photos 1,2). This is very important. A fire door that does not close fully into its frame will not adequately hold back fire and smoke. You should check that the door will close fully into its frame when opened to any angle and allowed to close under the action of the self-closing device. A simple way to check this is to:

• firstly, open the door fully, then let it go
• then open the door to around 15 degrees and let it go

In both cases, the door should fully close into the frame, overcoming the resistance of any latch or friction with the floor.

Doors to stairways and lobbies and doors within corridors

13. These doors are subject to greater wear and tear, and to greater potential for damage, than flat entrance doors, so they must be examined more regularly. While the Fire Safety (England) Regulations require that they are checked every three months, it is a simple matter for them to be monitored on an ongoing basis when any other checks in the common parts are carried out or the building is visited.

14. Checking these doors is similar to checking flat entrance doors, so you should check for:

• damage or defects that might affect the door’s ability to resist the spread of fire or smoke (see 6.7a-e)
• any damage to intumescent strips or smoke seals, if present (see 6.7f)
• large gaps (see 6.7g)
• the presence of an effective self-closing device (see 6.7h)

15. In some premises, corridor and lobby doors might be held open on magnetic door hold-open devices. For this to be the case, there would be a need for smoke detectors, activation of which would cause the door to close. Care should be taken when checking the self-closing device on these doors. Use the test button, where provided, to close the door, rather than pulling the door from its magnet.

16. Although unusual, where a double door is installed, that requires one leaf to close before the other, a door selector may be fitted to ensure that the doors swing closed in the correct order. Where such a selector is fitted, this should be checked to ensure that it is operating correctly.

Doors to plant rooms, service cupboards and risers

17. These doors should also be checked at least every three months. Again, the checks are similar to those described for other doors. In particular, you should check for:

• damage or defects that might affect the door’s ability to resist the spread of fire or smoke (see 6.7 a-e)
• any damage to air transfer grilles that may be present in the door (see 6.7e)
• any damage to intumescent strips or smoke seals, if present (see 6.7f)
• large gaps (see 6.7g)

18. In the case of these doors, they may be either self-closing or kept locked shut. If the doors are self-closing, they should be checked as described in 6.7h).

19. Caution should be exercised to ensure that entry into any of these areas can be carried out safely by those involved, taking into account any findings of the relevant health and safety risk assessment.

Fire door checks are vital in making sure your block of flats is safe for residents. The checks are not a substitute for periodic assessment of fire doors by fire safety specialists (for example on a sampling basis during fire risk assessments).

However, the simple fire door checks described in this guide will enable you to discover, and put right, most of the rudimentary defects that prevent a fire door from doing its job.