A door’s a door, right? No, a fire door is an engineered safety device that is a crucial part of the passive fire protection of every commercial, public and multiple occupancy building.

In everyday use the simple purpose of a fire door is just as any other door. However, since the break—out of a fire is never predictable, a fire door, unlike any other door must perform to its prime purpose – to delay the spread of fire and smoke; protecting lives and property.

When a fire happens, it is the compartmentalisation of fire through the correct specification and installation of well-maintained fire doors that buy us time, creating safe refuge and a protected route for the emergency services to come to our aid.

Fire Door Safety Week was launched in 2013 in response to a legacy of fire door neglect. It is a ‘mass market’ awareness campaign to increase public understanding of the role that fire doors play in protecting life and property.

Fire doors are often the first line of defence in a fire and their correct specification, maintenance and management is still not fully understood. Even after the Grenfell tragedy, fire doors remain a significant area of neglect, being often the first thing to be downgraded and mismanaged throughout their service life.

Now in its seventh year, Fire Door Safety Week remains committed to its original objectives:

• To raise awareness of the critical role of fire doors, drawing attention to specific issues such as poor installation and maintenance;
• To engage and educate people, helping the whole building industry and every property owner to understand the correct specification, supply, installation, operation, inspection and maintenance of fire doors;
• To encourage building owners and users to check the operation and condition of their fire doors and to report those that aren’t satisfactory;
• To link together the initiatives of many organisations with common interests in the fire door and passive fire protection industries.

Fire Door Safety Week is the brainchild of the British Woodworking Federation (BWF), the BWF Fire Door Alliance (an evolution of the BWF CERTIFIRE Scheme) and Fire Door Inspection Scheme (FDIS) and was supported at conception by the Government’s Fire Kills campaign. All stakeholders invest in the campaign to promote the critical importance of properly specified, installed and maintained fire doors and associated products.