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Fire Door Certifications - What You Need to Know

Posted on 30th January 2024

Following the tragedy of Grenfell Tower in 2017, closer attention is paid to passive fire protection and specifically the standards and certifications of the measures within a building. More and more importance is also put on fire doors as vital means of slowing the progression of fire and smoke through a building.

Since fire doors play such an important role in your building’s passive fire protection strategy, ensuring they are adequately tested and certified is imperative. In this article, we cover everything you need to know regarding fire door certifications in the UK.

Do All Fire Doors Need Certification?

Yes, all new fire doors need to be certified by a UKAS approved manufacturer. Additionally, fire doors need to be installed to manufacturer guidelines by a third party accredited contractor, for the fire door installation to be classed as certified which is the recognised industry standard.

Why are Fire Door Certifications Important?

Fire door certifications provide proof that a door or door set is fit for its purpose and meets the necessary fire door regulations and will perform in a fire situation. This, of course, is provided that the fire door is installed and maintained correctly.

Third-party fire door accreditations also evidence that a door has been tested during manufacturing, providing peace of mind for its performance. Certifications are also important for helping ensure your building meets insurance requirements. Without a fire door certificate, some insurance providers may invalidate or reject your claim in the event of a fire.

As a building owner or manager you have the responsibility to ensure fire doors are installed, inspected and maintained to the adequate standards. Below you can find more details on the importance of appropriately certified fire doors:

Ensuring Safety

Fire doors play an important part in fire compartmentation and the overall passive fire protection strategy of your building. They limit the spread of flames and smoke through the building, providing valuable time for evacuation. Third-party accreditation provides you with extra peace of mind that your building is properly safeguarded.

Avoiding Liability

As a Responsible Person the safety of both occupants and property is your legal obligation. If it’s found after a fire that fire doors were not installed or maintained correctly, you could be liable for any injuries or damages. Fire door certifications schemes help evidence that the installed doors have been subject to regular inspections.

Compliance with the Regulations

All of the latest fire regulation changes have been focused on accountability and providing clear auditable records of the fire safety measures in place within the premises. Fire doors make no exception. Fire door certifications represent proof of compliance and must be included with the safety information kept during the lifecycle of your building.

What are the Different Fire Door Accreditations?

While the requirements for fire doors are set out by the UK fire safety regulations, accreditations are done by several industry associations such as the British Standards Institution (BSI), British Woodworking Federation (BWF) and others. As we already mentioned third-party accreditations show a fire door has been tested to the regulatory standards.

Here are some of main fire door certification schemes that contractors in the UK operate under:

FIRAS

FIRAS is one of the best known third-party certification schemes, operated by Warrington Certification Ltd and accredited by UKAS to BS EN ISO/IEC 17065:2012. It independently verifies that a fire door installation service meets the specified industry standards.

Under this scheme, certification is awarded to companies demonstrating competence in fire door installation. Regular assessments are required to maintain certification, ensuring adherence to the standards.

FIRAS covers various types of fire doors, including steel, timber and glazed doors, along with the associated hardware. This includes hinges, locks and automatic-closers. Contractors must also hold individual licences audited by FIRAS. For this FIRAS sends out teams to inspect their work and award licences only to installations meeting their standards.

BM TRADA

BM TRADA provides various services in quality, safety and sustainability for the construction, manufacturing and energy industries. Their Q-Mark Fire Door Scheme, certifies fire doors for fire resistance and smoke control and is acknowledged by the Fire and Rescue Authorities, as well as Building Control Bodies.

Unike FIRAS, BM TRADA issues a manager’s licence, allowing groups of contractors to operate under the supervisor’s responsibility for work approval rather than the scheme. This means it is ultimately the supervisors responsibility to uphold the accreditation standards.

GRJ is accredited under the BM TRADA Q-Mark Fire Door Installation and Remediation scheme.

British Standards Institution (BSI)

The British Standards Institution is a globally-recognised leader in the development and certification of standards. The BSI standards related to fire doors include BS 476 and BS EN 1634. These specify the fire resistance for fire doors as well as other building elements.

In addition to specifying standards, the BSI provides third-party accreditation services in the testing of fire doors for their fire resistance and surveilling certified manufacturers for ongoing compliance.

How to Identify a Fire Door Plugs?

What is a fire door plug? It is essentially a label provided by the accrediting bodies showing a fire door meets certain standards for fire and smoke resistance. Fire plugs are normally found either on the top or hanging edge of the door.

For BM Trada certified doors, for example, the outer background colour identifies the period of fire resistance of the door. The inner/tree colour marks the status of manufacture and the unique number inside of it shows the certification company.

Here is what the different colours mean in more detail:

Outer Colour

- Yellow - 30 minutes fire resistance

- Blue - 60 minutes fire resistance

- Brown - 90 minutes fire resistance

- Black - 120 minutes fire resistance

Inner/Tree Colour

- Red - Approved leaf and/or frame* (FD30 & FD60). Intumescent strips not supplied.

- Green - Approved leaf and/or frame* (FD30 & FD60). Intumescent strips prepared for & supplied.

- Orange - Approved factory fitted glazing.

- Silver - Complete certified factory hung doorset.

- Gold - Certified installation of a complete factory hung doorset.

*Where the frame and leaf are produced by separate Q-Mark companies, both the frame and the door must have their own red or green plug.

Q-Mark Certified Fire Doors - Supplied by GRJ

As BM Trada Q-Mark accredited contractors, here at GRJ we supply and install tested and certified fire doors. Our fire door services also cover remediation and maintenance to ensure all fire doors in your building remain functional to their specified standards. We issue a certificate for each installation that confirms compliance with the fire safety regulations.

In addition through our sister company GRJ Surveying, we can survey existing fire doors in your building. During this inspection we test that each fire door meets the necessary standards and report if we find any issues that need to be addressed urgently.

We ultimately stand to protect you, your building and its occupants in the event of a fire. Get in touch with our team today to enquire about our fire door services!