Fire Door Safety Week wins campaign of the year at the safety and health excellence awards

Fire Door Safety Week 2017 saw off stiff competition from the automotive, aerospace and construction sectors to be awarded ‘campaign of the year’ (fire, security, health and safety) at The Safety and Health Excellence Awards for its success in highlighting the importance of fire door safety maintenance and five simple inspection checks that anyone can do to initiate positive change and improve a building’s fire safety.

2017’s Fire Door Safety Week (FDSW) reportedly attracted its highest number of supporters ever, including 273 organisations from the social housing and private rented housing sectors, the construction supply chain, fire and building consultancies and local fire and rescue services. The campaign is industry-led, in partnership with the hovernment’s Fire Kills campaign.

Among the high-profile supporters were London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton, and Bill Grant, MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock who had 31 years’ service in the fire brigade.

Accepting the award on behalf of the British Woodworking Federation, Iain McIlwee, chief executive said: “Thank you to The Safety and Health Excellence Awards for awarding Fire Door Safety Week with this prestigious industry award.

“The success of the campaign is down to the combined efforts of the British Woodworking Federation (BWF), BWF-Certifire scheme and the Fire Door Inspection Scheme (FDIS) team, but more than anything, it is testament to our members who have driven us to help raise awareness of concerns and help promote best practice, not just in the manufacture and supply, but also the installation and inspection/maintenance of fire doors.

“With fire safety high on the agenda, following the tragic events of the Grenfell Tower fire, the 2017 Fire Door Safety Week campaign set out to significantly increase awareness of the benefits of fire doors, a passive fire protection method, and how to ensure their ongoing maintenance.

“Attracting the highest number of supporters to date, the campaign did just that – but our work is not done. Fire doors remain a significant area of neglect, often the first thing to be downgraded on a specification and mismanaged throughout their service life, propped open, damaged and badly maintained. Fire Door Safety Week 2018 is set for September 24 – 30 and will continue to raise awareness of the critical role fire doors play and how everyone can play their part to ensure they remain effective and able to fulfil their life-saving ability in the unfortunate event of a fire.”

Publicity of the 2017 campaign resulted in more than 350 pieces of media coverage, including in the Daily Telegraph and the Mirror newspapers, and 16 broadcast items including on Radio 5 Live, LBC and talkRADIO.

The campaign, now in its seventh year, saw events running across the UK and online, and at its heart was the simple 5 Step Fire Door Check providing users with a simple guide to assessing the health of their fire doors.