What's a "notional" fire door and how do you spot one?

There is a difference between modern fire doors and their requirements and older type doors, often called ‘notional" or "nominal" fire doors’.? These doors may have been in place for many years and they also met earlier standards of manufacture and legislation.?However, this doesn't mean that they are now not fit for purpose, providing they are still in good condition they will still provide the service for which they were intended, but it's always important to check on their integrity as you would with a modern fire door.

Modern doors are equipped with what's called intumescent strips and cold smoke seals. Intumescent strips are fitted to fire doors, and when exposed to extreme heat they expand to close any gaps or edges that might facilitate the spread of smoke and fire. Older ‘notional’ doors may not have these fitted, and are often fitted into frames with a 1 inch or 25 mm door stop.?The ‘notional’ door may still be suitable if it is not warped or gapped to the extent that it requires replacement.?It's important to note though, that where "notional" doors do need to be replaced, they must be replaced by a modern fire door to meet the current legislations.

To determine whether or not your notional fire doors should be replaced, they should be risk-assessed. The primary responsibility of a fire door is to protect life and belongings from fire so there is no half way house when it comes to assessing whether the door is safe or not. Arrow can provide a fire door assessment and provide a comprehensive report on the integrity of your fire doors giving you peace of mind and an action plan to getting compliant if necessary.

Can you certify a nominal fire door?

Yes and no. Manufacturers of fire doors have a legal requirement to demonstrate the fire performance abilities of their fire doors. This is gained through testing the doors in suitable laboratories (often via third-party certification schemes) and gaining fire performance test certificates for the fire doors. Unless a pre-existing nominal fire door is removed from its location and tested at such a laboratory (which is very costly and will likely result in the fire door being burnt in an industrial furnace), the performance of the door in a fire situation will remain unknown. However, many third-party accredited contractors can self-certify repairs made to fire doors. These certificates will not guarantee the fire performance abilities of the fire door but they do provide assurance regarding the materials used, instructions followed and competency of those undertaking repairs to nominal fire doors.

According to?Article 17 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005,it is a legal requirement for businesses to ensure that fire resisting doors and escape doors are correctly installed and adequately maintained at all times.

As there is no other way of ensuring that your fire doors remain fit for purpose, this makes regular fire door inspections a legal requirement. And as the Regulatory Fire Reform is applicable to all non-domestic buildings, your business falls under this legislation.

Arranging a fire door inspection is easy, visit our website www.arrow-industrial.co.uk and locate your local branch. Simply drop us an email or call us and we'll arrange for one of our national network of engineers to get in touch to support your enquiry.