KFD Fire Door Audit Test 2024

We feel that it is incredibly important that purchasers of our fire doors understand what goes into the process of being able to manufacture a product which can be trusted and relied upon. Therefore, the following article is to explain the lengths we go through to be a Member of the BM Trada Q-Mark scheme (a third-party accredited Fire Door manufacturing scheme) and to give you an insight as to what sets us aside from non-certified fire door manufacturers.

Critically, at the time of writing, there is no obligation for any non-certified fire door manufacturer to adopt any of the following procedures or to be included within any scheme that monitors or regulates the output standard of fire doors. Therefore, none of those processes or procedures can be independently verified as being correct. However, third-party accredited Fire Door manufactures must adhere to these.

One of the basic standards we must hold is the ISO 9001 accreditation. This identifies the requirements for a comprehensive Quality Management System (QMS) and forms the basis for how we manage, and present information required under the Q-Mark scheme. Each project we work on will have a trail from start to finish in which all the components required for a project are recorded in our QMS. These will include items such as the timber used (also noting moisture content and density), the glass used and ironmongery components etc. All these can be easily traced in the system which also tracks and monitors factory production procedures and personnel training requirements. Our QMS is subject to external audit in which all areas are scrutinised on a periodic basis.

So how do you know our fire doors will do their job?

Not only are we audited by a third party to make sure we are following the correct operating and manufacturing processes, in our case by BM TRADA, but we must manufacture a sample door set as instructed by BM TRADA and send it to their facility for testing.

As a BM TRADA Q-Marked Certified Fire Door Manufacturer, we have written permission from the door blank manufacturers to ‘forward process’ their products. The products we have chosen to utilise are documented under our ‘Scope of Approval’ and we are monitored to ensure that we comply with the exacting parameters set out in the Field of Application Reports for those products. Of which, one of those products is randomly selected for us to produce a sample of for BM Trada to test. This process is repeated every three years.

This year we were asked to produce a Moralt Laminesse FireSound 59mm FD60, which with a vision panel is a 40-decibel rated door.

The manufacturing of the door was independently monitored by our BM-TRADA client manager to ensure compliance with the certification and exacting requirements.

So, what happened next?

The completed door set including all the fitted ironmongery, was then delivered to the BM TRADA, Warrington Fire testing facility in High Wycombe where it was installed on the testing rig ready for the burn test. The installation of the door set was fitted all in accordance with the installation instructions we had supplied with it, and everything was checked prior to the commencement of the test.

How did it perform?

The test began and initially smoke was seen passing between the door and the frame until the intumescent in the frame had activated - this was around 10 minutes.

No further smoke was seen until 40 minutes when a small trace could be seen but no significant smoke could be seen until 48 minutes. At 50 minutes the door still looked good right through to 70 minutes at which point the top opening corner showed signs of scorching.

At 74 minutes a cotton pad test was conducted with no failure recorded. At 75 minutes some glowing could be seen in that area but even at that point when a second cotton pad was applied to the area no failure was recorded. Just over 76 minutes has past when a flame came through the corner and upheld the 10 second integrity failure and so the test was terminated.

What does this mean?

Many things must come together for the result to be positive. These include the initial door blank manufacturing process, the controlled processing and fabrication of the door set itself, and the correct installation of the door set adhering to our fitting instructions. If any one of these elements is not conducted correctly it could lead to a failure in the test. In this instance, the door set withstood close to 900 degrees of heat and fire for just over 76 minutes more than a 25% overrun in performance, which is very comforting if you were a person trapped in a building with this door between you and a fire. This would have given the emergency services the time they needed to attend and deal with the situation.

Do you really want to take the risk that a door from an uncertified manufacturer will save a life, is it really worth it?

To Summarise

It’s a huge commitment for any Third Party Fully Accredited Fire Door Manufacturer to maintain its standing in the market and this one audit test alone has cost Kent Flush Doors around ￡10,000. This type of audit is on a 3 year cycle, which shows our commitment to produce doors that not only look good but will also save your life.