10 • INDUSTRYNEWS
The Safe, Legal
and Easy Way
to Hold Open
a Fire Door
» » FIRE DOOR SAFETY IS AN
essential – but often
overlooked – issue. Fire
safety legislation is an ever-
increasing and complex part
of any building’s design.
Most reputable businesses
and landlords are keen to
uphold their responsibilities,
as besides the human risk
and property damage, any
resulting prosecution can be
significant. Fire doors must
be self-closing and, therefore,
require a CE Marked and
tested door closer to be fitted
correctly and maintained.
In the past, even
some of the biggest
commercial names have
faced the consequences
of unacceptable fire door
safety. Supermarket retailer
Tesco has previously been
fined a total of £95,000,
when a number of breaches
of fire safety legislation
were found at a store in the
London borough of Barnet.
An inspection determined
the store had inadequate fire
separation due to doors being
wedged open, with £40,000
of the fine being attributed
to this.
A nursing home in Liverpool
also faced a penalty of
£48,000 for compromising the
safety of elderly residents by
wedging open and failing to
rectify defective fire doors.
Any wedges identified
holding fire doors open
should be removed
immediately. Escape routes
must be kept open at all
times. While this can be a
frustration and difficult for
businesses with stock control,
should a fire occur and then
safety procedures found to be
lacking, then prosecution is a
potential outcome.
DOORSENSE: THE FACTS
For those seeking a safe,
simple and versatile fire
door safety solution, ASSA
ABLOY Security Solutions, a
UK division of ASSA ABLOY,
has introduced DoorSense,
a fast-fit, standalone solution
that enables door access
while ensuring automatic
closure in the event of an
alarm.
CE marked to EN 1155
standards and fire rated
(FD120) for use on timber
doors, DoorSense gives you
the means to provide access
in a building when needed,
while reacting fast should a
fire occur. DoorSense has
been designed with intelligent
acoustic technology to
work in conjunction with an
installed fire alarm and has
been tested over 50,000
cycles, far beyond any
existing standard, so the
installer and end user can be
confident it will work when
required.
The system is extremely
easy to install, with no wiring
or specialist skills required.
Low maintenance costs
are guaranteed, with the
system simply powered by
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two Alkaline C batteries.
The system can be released
manually, automatically by
detecting a fire alarm, or by
using a built-in night closing
timer.
The system can, essentially,
be used anywhere.
Whether it’s a large or small
application, DoorSense is
suitable for care homes,
schools, public facilities
and many other commercial
environments. Available in
three colours – black, white
or red – the system has been
designed to deliver a long-
lasting service life, with its
robust casing withstanding
repeated impacts.
Furthermore, it can be easily
retrofitted to doors using
older holding mechanisms,
and as it requires no
additional holes to be drilled
in the fire door, sites can be
confident that these will retain
their certification.