Reliable passive fire protection can make every week a ‘Fire Door Safety Week’

Fire, thermal and acoustic insulation manufacturer Promat UK is urging fire door producers and specifiers to use the focal point of the 2018 Fire Door Safety Week to take a fresh look at the design of their doors and scrutinise every detail to eliminate risk in these life-saving products.

Promat UK, which is a long-established manufacturer of passive fire protection products, including fire resistant glass, intumescent seals and door slab core materials, welcomes the annual spotlight that Fire Door Safety Week puts on the importance of fire doors, but believes much more needs to be done to design-out risk.

The company is working alongside other leading manufacturers in the door and window sector to drive up standards, including as an active member of the Glass & Glazing Federation (GGF) Fire Resistant Glazing Group, to educate designers, manufacturers, specifiers and installers of fire rated doorsets to help avoid the mistakes of the past.

Cath McLean, Promat UK segment manager for glass, said: “Fire Door Safety Week is an excellent initiative, which has a tremendously positive impact, particularly in respect of reminding building owners, managers and users why fire doors are so important and reducing the dangers caused by complacency. However, as an industry we can do so much more to design-out risks in the performance of the doorsets, and that requires an all-year-round focus on the components and products that deliver passive fire protection. It is incumbent on us all to make every week a Fire Door Safety Week.

“Our current marketing campaign centres around the ‘Specified for a Reason’ message, and we are working hard to educate and support everyone in the fire door supply chain to ensure that critical products are not incorrectly specified or poorly applied. Unfortunately, we still see too many examples of corners being cut to save a few pounds on a doorset that is designed to protect lives and valuable assets, and that is something that the industry needs to rid itself of quickly if we are to avoid future tragedies.”