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Fire Rated Sliding Door Hardware – Supporting Fire Door Safety Week

by Kate Donkin on 23/09/2019

Did you know that approximately 3 million fire doors are installed in the UK every year? In spite of this, fire doors remain an area of neglect across the UK as the correct installation, specification, maintenance and management of fire doors is not always fully understood (1).

This year P C Henderson is supporting Fire Door Safety Week to help increase our customers understanding and awareness of fire doors. Launched in 2013, the nationwide campaign aims to:

  • Raise awareness of the critical role of fire doors
  • Educate on the identification of poor installation and maintenance of fire doors
  • Encourage people to check the operation and condition of fire doors
  • Engage and educate property owners to understand the correct specification, supply, installation, operation, inspection and maintenance

Why are fire doors important?

A fire doors prime purpose is to delay the spread of smoke and fire – not only protecting lives but also the property. The correct specification and maintenance of fire doors is critical to the compartmentation of a fire (keeping it in the room in which it started) which in turn allows occupants to safely evacuate a building.

Fire safety should be tackled by a multi strategy approach consisting of:

  • Prevention
  • Communication
  • Escape
  • Containment
  • Extinguish

What are the testing requirements of fire doors?

To test a fire door, it must be tested as a complete assembly or door set. A complete fire door set is defined as a “A complete assembly comprising the frame, any glazing, intumescent fire and smoke seals and all the ironmongery that is used on the door, such as hinges, overhead door closers, latches and locks”. This means that both the door and the hardware that holds it in place should be tested to British Standards for the system to be legally classified as fire-rated.

Both our Marathon Fire Rated and Pocket Door Pro Fire Rated sliding door systems have been tested by a UKAS accredited company and meet the legal requirements of the British Standard, BS 476-22:1987. The hardware can be combined with a certified fire door and other necessary components to become a complete fire door set.

Our Pocket Door Pro Fire Rated offers a sliding door solution for doors weighing up to 120kg. The system is available in 7 different kit sizes, FD30 or FD60 applications, self-closing and non self-closing options and for 120mm or 125mm finished wall thicknesses. The system comes complete with intumescent seals which expand when exposed to heat - sealing off the gap between the door and the frame around the door, preventing the spread of smoke and fire.

Alternatively, our Marathon Fire Rated is certified to FD30 standards, catering for doors weighing up to 90kg and is available for self-closing and non self-closing applications.

To find out more about Fire Door Safety Week and to get involved, please click here.

(1) https://www.ifsecglobal.com/fire-news/fire-door-safety-week-2018-numbers/