Regulations

What regulations affect the use of fire doors?

There are a number of regulations which apply to both new and existing buildings across the UK. 

In the case of new buildings, or those which include alterations, extensions or change of use, the appropriate Building Regulations apply.

Existing buildings, other than domestic properties, are governed by the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order: 2005 – otherwise known as the FSO

New Buildings

Building Regulations are known as Approved Documents (or equivalent) and are available from the websites shown below. They are designed to help meet the minimum standards required for construction in the UK.
Because fire doors are functional items and are necessary in all buildings and structures, they are required to meet a number of different regulations such as sound, accessibility, ventilation, thermal efficiency and safety glazing as well as fire safety.

A summary of Approved Document regulations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is shown in the table below.

Other Regulations and Codes

In addition to building regulations, fire doors may also be required to comply with other codes and standards to meet BREEAM and the Code for Sustainable Homes criteria, as well as procurement requirements for responsible sourcing of materials such as those provided by forest certification and chain of custody required under CPET regulations, which apply to ALL projects undertaken by UK Government Public Sector and its agencies.

Existing buildings

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 or FSO, replaced over 70 pieces of fire safety law and came into force in 2006.

The responsibility for fire risk assessment in all non-domestic buildings, including the common parts of flats and houses of multiple occupation, falls to the so-called 'responsible person'.

Under the FSO, the responsible person must carry out a fire safety risk assessment and implement and maintain a fire management plan. Further information on what you need to do when carrying out a risk assessment is available here.

The law applies to you if you are:

  • responsible for business premises
  • an employer or self-employed with business premises
  • responsible for a part of a dwelling where that part is solely used for business purposes
  • a charity or voluntary organisation
  • a contractor with a degree of control over any premises
  • providing accommodation for paying guests

Fire doors play a major role in the fire safety and protection of ALL buildings covered by the FSO and it is important that fire doors are inspected correctly and maintained in order to ensure compliance.

Failure to do so can place property and lives at risk and is likely to result in criminal prosecution.

Recent prosecutions include

  • The managing agents of a block of flats, in Paddington, London, fined £100,000 and ordered to pay almost £13,000 costs after pleading guilty to three breaches of fire safety law.
  • A pub landlord, who converted the upstairs into flats without applying for consent, was fined £3,350 and £899 costs.
    The landlord also failed to fit fire doors and adequate smoke alarms.
  • A residential landlord given a suspended prison sentence and ordered to pay more than £10,000 in costs - investigators found there were no fire alarms or detection in the common areas of the property, inadequate fire doors
  • A brewery ordered to pay £27,481 in fines and costs following a number of fire safety breaches at one of its pubs in London including the building, which is a House of Multiple Occupation, had not been installed with self closers on a kitchen door and one of its bedroom doors.