What is a fire door, and why does it matter?
A fire door is not simply a heavy door. It is a tested, rated assembly — including the door leaf, frame, seals, hinges, and hardware — engineered to withstand fire and smoke for a specified period of time. The most common ratings in UK buildings are FD30 (30 minutes) and FD60 (60 minutes).
Their purpose is twofold: to contain the spread of fire and toxic smoke, giving occupants time to evacuate, and to protect escape routes so that those routes remain passable. A compromised fire door — even one with a minor defect — can fail to achieve either of those objectives.
Who is responsible under UK law?
Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO), the "responsible person" — typically the employer, building owner, or managing agent — is legally obligated to ensure that fire doors in non-domestic premises are correctly installed, maintained, and inspected.
The Fire Safety Act 2021 and the Building Safety Act 2022 extended these duties further, particularly for multi-occupied residential buildings. Leaseholders and landlords in higher-risk properties now face specific obligations around fire door inspections — including quarterly checks on communal fire doors and annual checks on flat entrance doors.
Failure to comply can result in enforcement notices, prohibition orders, unlimited fines, and in serious cases, prosecution.
Key point
A fire door only performs its function when it is closed. Propping a fire door open — even briefly — can be a criminal offence under Article 17 of the RRO, which requires fire-resisting structures to be maintained.
The five things inspectors check
During a fire risk assessment or dedicated fire door inspection, trained assessors will look at the following:
A compliant fire door should carry a certification label or plug — usually on the top edge or hinge side — confirming its rating (FD30, FD60) and the certifying body. Absence of markings is a red flag.
Intumescent strips expand under heat to seal the gap between the door and frame. Smoke seals (often a brush strip) prevent the passage of cold smoke. Both must be intact, undamaged, and correctly fitted around the full perimeter.
The gap between the door leaf and the frame (on the sides and top) should be no more than 3mm. The gap at the bottom should be no more than 8mm — unless a threshold seal is fitted. Gaps outside these tolerances compromise the door's fire resistance significantly.
Most fire doors are required to be self-closing. The closer must be capable of pulling the door shut from any open position without manual assistance. Hold-open devices are only permissible if they are fail-safe (i.e. they release and allow the door to close automatically when the fire alarm activates).
Certified fire door hinges (typically three per door) must be used — standard butt hinges are not an equivalent. Similarly, any locks, latches, or emergency exit hardware must be fire-rated and compatible with the door assembly. Substituting uncertified hardware voids the door's certification.
Common failures found during inspections
In our experience carrying out fire risk assessments across the North East, the same defects appear repeatedly:
- Doors wedged open with fire extinguishers or door stops
- Missing or damaged intumescent seals caused by painting over them
- Self-closers that are broken or have been deliberately disabled
- Replacement doors fitted without checking whether they carry the correct rating
- Glazed panels cut into doors post-installation without fire-rated glass
- No record of when fire doors were last inspected
Each of these defects represents a potential point of failure in the event of a real fire. None of them are expensive to fix — but all of them are easy to miss without a systematic inspection programme.
How often should fire doors be inspected?
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 set out a statutory inspection frequency for residential buildings with two or more storeys. However, the principle of "regularly" applies to all premises under the RRO, and the responsible person must be able to demonstrate that inspections are taking place.
As a minimum, most fire safety professionals recommend:
- Quarterly — communal fire doors in residential buildings over 11 metres in height
- Annually — all fire doors in commercial premises, as part of the fire risk assessment review
- After any works — whenever building or refurbishment work affects a fire door or surrounding structure
- Following any incident — after a fire, alarm activation, or any event that may have caused physical damage
Records of all inspections should be kept as part of your fire safety log, readily available for inspection by the local fire authority.
Fire doors and your fire risk assessment
Fire doors do not exist in isolation — they are a component of your building's overall passive fire protection strategy. A thorough fire risk assessment will evaluate not just the condition of individual doors, but whether the right doors are installed in the right locations, whether the overall compartmentation strategy makes sense, and whether any remedial works are needed.
At 1 Stop Fire Prevention, our assessors are fully trained to identify fire door deficiencies as part of a comprehensive fire risk assessment. Whether you manage a single commercial premises or a portfolio of properties, we can help you understand your obligations and ensure you remain compliant.