38 • INDUSTRYNEWS
PROUD SPONSORS
OF THIS PAGE
Close the fire door to danger,
urges new campaign
»»IN THE 350TH ANNIVERSARY
year of the Great Fire of London, a
social media campaign to spur us
all towards greater fire safety has
been launched by the BWF-Certifire
fire door and doorset scheme.
The #ClickItKickIt campaign
is encouraging people to stop
the practice of wedging open fire
doors. Everyone using a building
where they see a fire door wedged
open is being urged to take a photo
(Click It) to share on social media
using the hashtag #ClickItKickIt,
and then to kick the wedge away
(Kick It) so the door can close, and
report it to the building owner or
manager.
Any wedges donated to BWFCertifire during the campaign will
also be used to create a sculpture
which will be on put on display in
London on 2 September, 350 years
to the day since the Great Fire of
London started in 1666.
Hannah Mansell, BWF-Certifire
scheme manager, said:
“A w edged-open fire door renders
it completely useless. It can no
longer protect your own safety, your
loved ones or your property. It’s
an open door to danger, and those
responsible for the fire safety within
a building that they own or manage
are literally playing with fire if they
condone or ignore the use of fire
door wedges.
“The #ClickItKickIt campaign is
designed to highlight the deadly
yet seemingly innocuous fire door
wedge. We want to photograph and
share the location of every office,
hotel, hospital, school or other
building where an internal fire door
is dangerously wedged open.
“We also want to collect
redundant wedges for a piece of art
that will highlight the widespread
misuse and risk associated with
these objects. Anyone can take
part.”
Alarmingly, the latest
Government statistics show that
there were 213 deaths and more
than 6,700 casualties from building
fires in England in the six months
of April to September 2015. Full
year figures are likely to show a
significant increase on previous
years, and Chief Fire Officers from
many of England’s largest cities
have already raised their concerns
about this trend.
Wedges can legitimately be
used for temporary purposes – for
example, if someone needs to prop
open a door while moving a large
item – when it’s been included
in the risk assessment for that
activity. Some doors are fitted with
automatic hold-open devices,
connected to the fire alarm, which
will close in the event of a fire.
But in reality, wedges are used all
the time in a wide range of public
buildings, with the result that the
vital fire compartmentation of that
building is broken.
Every fire develops differently,
but after the initial flashover at the
early stage of a fire, it is usually
accepted that the temperature
can rise to hundreds of degrees
Celsius within minutes and
rooms or corridors can very
quickly become smoke-logged
(with smoke which is usually
highly toxic) within seconds if a
fire door is wedged open.
A well-maintained, fully
closed fire door fitted
with the
‘A wedgedopen
fire door
renders it
completely
useless.
It can no
longer
protect
your own
safety, your
loved ones
or your
property.’
LOCKSMITHJOURNAL.CO.UK | JUL/AUG 2016
Sponsored by ASSA ABLOY
correct perimeter smoke seals can
help protect people from those
dangers for half an hour or more,
critically giving time to escape
or seek refuge, and providing the
safe and protected route into the
building for emergency services to
come to our aid.
The BWF-Certifire scheme
promotes the use of such thirdparty certificated fire doors and
components that have been
rigorously assessed and audited.
Through the scheme, about 3
million fire doors are tested and
certified each year, accounting for
approximately 70% of the market.
Third-party certification verifies a
fire door’s design, performance,
manufacturing process and quality
assurance from manufacture to
installation.
The BWF-Certifire scheme
is the leading authority on fire
door safety. It provides technical
information, support and guidance
to manufacturers, specifiers and
installers of fire doors and related
products, and runs the Fire Door
Safety Week national awareness
campaign every September.
www.bwfcertifire.org.
uk/kickit