Fire Safety Division
Fire safety is a crucial aspect of any residential, commercial, or industrial setting. Safety is non-negotiable. The responsible person needs systems that are built to protect and to last. Our experience in the industry means we understand what you need from your commercial fire safety & security solutions. We offer national coverage delivered at local level, via our network of highly qualified technicians. What sets us apart from the crowd is our independence from manufacturers and installers. We aim to cut your costs, not to give you a bill for large and unnecessary work. That means when you engage the services of KEM, we’ll make it our priority to help you save money and delivery a quality service.
Fire Door Inspections
Fire doors are a critical part of a premises fire protection measures and can be found in almost all buildings. Fire doors, also known as fire resisting door sets are used to assist in preventing the spread of fire and smoke. Fire door surveys and inspections allow for deficiencies to be identified and for remedial repairs to be implemented to ensure that the spread of fire or smoke is minimised to provide building occupants with sufficient time to escape. An effective fire door inspection regime should include in-house visual inspections by a competent person and full surveys by competent contractor.
Fire resisting construction also known as fire compartmentation is also required alongside fire doorsets to subdivide the building and to protect the escape routes. In most buildings, this fire protection is a legal requirement under the Building Regulations 2010 and to meet the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in England and Wales (and similar legislation in Scotland and Northern Ireland).
Fire doorsets are often subjected to damage due to general wear and tear, misuse, and/or malicious acts, and must undergo regular inspection and maintenance to ensure they continue to operate and function as designed.
Overview of the law on fire doors
This prevention of fire spread can also significantly reduce the extent of fire and smoke damage to a building or business.
There are some important UK regulations and guidance documents that need to be considered to ensure that your fire doors are compliant, including but not limited to:
- The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
- The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
- BS 8214Timber-based fire door assemblies – Code of practice.
- BS 9991 Fire Safety in the Design, Management and Use of Residential Buildings – Code of practice.
- BS 9999 Fire Safety in the Design, Management and Use of Buildings - Code of practice.
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 made it a legal requirement from 23 January 2023 for responsible persons for all multi-occupied residential buildings in England with storeys over 11 metres in height to:
- Undertake quarterly checks of all fire doors (including self-closing devices) in the communal areas.
- Undertake, on a best endeavour basis, annual checks of all flat entrance doors (including self-closing devices) that lead onto a building’s communal areas.
The regulations also require responsible persons to provide to residents of all multi-occupied residential buildings with two or more sets of domestic premises (that have common parts) information on the importance of fire doors to a building’s fire safety.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to all premises including workplaces and the common parts of all multi-occupied residential buildings. This legislation already required responsible persons where necessary to take certain steps to ensure the safety of persons, which includes the inspection & maintenance of fire doors.
In commercial buildings, the fire door requirements may vary depending on the escape routes (vertical and horizontal), but typically that is down stairways and through corridors.
As fire doors are in frequent use as part of their daily function, they are prone to risk of damage. It is therefore important to have them inspected or surveyed regularly and maintained to ensure that they are protecting your workplace/residence to a safe and legal standard.
Fire Door Construction
Fire doors are made from a combination of different materials such as timber, gypsum, aluminium and steel. Where some fire doors have windows, they are made from a fire-resistant material such as ceramic glass, that has a higher resistance than standard glass. This type of glass is typically reinforced with an anti-shatter wire mesh.
There are different grades of fire doors that you should be aware of, each one will offer a different level of protection. These grades indicate how long they can withstand a fire, the following are the most common.
- FD30 can withstand up to 30 minutes.
- FD60 can withstand up to 60 minutes.
- FD90 can withstand up to 90 minutes.
- FD120 can withstand up to 120 minutes.
Fire Risk Assessment
From 1st October 2006 The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires the Responsible Person (RP) of any non-domestic premises to carry out a fire risk assessment, including measures to reduce or eliminate the risk of fire, and identify persons at risk. Where there are 5 or more employees, a record must be kept of significant findings. The Responsible Person can arrange for a suitably qualified or experienced person to complete the assessment on their behalf.
A KEM risk assessment is a hassle-free risk assessment. The process identifies fire hazards and those at risk in the workplace, works to evaluate, remove or reduce the dangers. Our technicians will come to your premises at a time to suit you and present you with a full record of findings, as well as an emergency plan and hazard-prevention guidance.
The risk assessment process involves an inspection of the premises to identify potential fire hazards, to ensure adequate measures to stop fire starting and that adequate fire protection measures are in place to protect everyone in the building.
- A fire hazard is anything that can start a fire, such as ignition sources or combustible materials. Consider:
-
- electrical equipment
- smoking
- arson
- heating
- cooking
- housekeeping
- contractors
- How many people are in the premises? Are there any young, disabled, or lone workers present in the premises.
- How many floors and staircases are in the premises? The number and location of exits? Are fire alarms, fire exit signs, emergency lighting and fire extinguishers needed
- Do you have a clear plan of how you are going to keep people safe from fire? Do your staff know what to do in case of fire? Do you complete fire drills? Are fire safety provisions being maintained? Your plan details what needs doing and by when. Use the checklist to make sure you have covered all areas.
- Your fire risk assessment needs regular review and updating if there are any significant changes.
Fire Stopping
The Purpose of Passive Fire Protection is to contain or slow the spread of fire and smoke allowing sufficient time for evacuation and emergency response”
Fire stopping is a legal requirement included within the Passive Fire Protection laws in place in the UK. It refers to installing fire stopping equipment throughout a building to create a safe exit route for the building’s occupants and a corridor for emergency services to enter the building safely to tackle the blaze.
Fire safety legislation now requires that a building owners take full responsibility for all aspects of fire safety within their premises. They are required as part of their risk assessment process to ensure that the fire rating elements of the building structure meet current legislation. Once a fire has started it is of paramount importance to stop the fire from spreading to other parts of the building. A fire can spread in many ways, but the correct installation of fire stopping materials can prevent this.
With new buildings, construction companies invest heavily in piping, HVAC ducts, and other fixings which pass through compartment aspects of the property. This creates weak spots in the building where gases, smoke and flames can spread when not properly handled, or protected.
KEM has extensive experience and know-how to make sure your walls, roofs, floors, service risers and voids are fire resistant. Our fire stopping services are dedicated to fire prevention in residential and commercial properties across the UK.
Fire Extinguishers
No single extinguisher can be used to tackle every fire, and because each type of fire extinguisher has different categories of fire on which it is effective, selection can be a minefield.
The good news is that portable fire extinguishers are effective and are saving lives. According to a survey from companies in the four main trade associations in the UK fire sector, the number of fires being successfully extinguished by portable devices has increased from 80% in 2003 to 93% in 2021.
The first step is to look at what materials are present in the area to be protected from fire. These can be divided into six fire classes involving different substances:
- Class A fire caused by combustible carbon-based solids such as paper, wood or textiles
- Class B fire caused by flammable liquids e.g. paraffin, petrol, diesel or oil (but not cooking oil)
- Class C fire caused by flammable gases, e.g. butane, propane or methane
- Class D fire caused by burning metals, e.g. aluminium, lithium or magnesium
- Fires caused by electrical equipment (indicated by an electric spark symbol and not the letter E)
- Class F fire caused by fats and cooking oils.
In the UK, portable fire extinguishers must conform to BS EN3 Standard, which specifies that their body is coloured red. A small coloured band indicates the type of fire extinguisher – red for water, white and red for water mist, cream colour for foam, blue for dry powder, yellow coded extinguishers are used for wet chemical, green for clean agent and black for CO2 extinguishers.
We supply all types of commercial extinguishers in a host of different industries including retail, warehousing and manufacturers.
All of our extinguishers conform to the high UK standards for fire protection equipment. We have every size and type, arranged by business needs and use.
Regular checks of your fire extinguishers ensure that they are in efficient working order, ready to use in the event of a fire and that they are still in the correct location. For this, you will need your fire extinguisher to be maintained with mandatory annual inspections.