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Fire Door Inspections
As the industry leader in the inspection and repair of fire and smoke dampers, LSS Life Safety Services offers fire and smoke door inspections as a compliment to our passive fire-protection inspection services.
Fire-rated doors are an integral part of not just the building’s passive fire-protection system but the building’s overall fire protection. A properly operating fire door, just like a properly operating fire damper, is a key component in the compartmentalization of a building to stop the spread of deadly fire, smoke, and toxic fumes and gases. For the fire door to operate successfully the entire fire assembly must operate, and the fire door is just one part of the overall fire assembly. The assembly is composed of the fire door, frame, fire exit hardware, door closers, hinges, locks, door bolts, and other door components that when combined provide varying degrees of fire protection that is contingent on the door fire rating (e.g. 45 minutes, 90 minutes). In addition to all of the components of a fire door assembly there are multiple categories of fire doors: horizontal sliding; fire shutters; swinging; vertically sliding; chutes; and overhead rolling fire doors.
Combining the critical role fire doors play in fire protection, the varying types of fire doors, the multiple components that comprise a fire assembly, with the high frequency that fire doors are used on a day-to-day basis in building occupancy the likelihood of a fire or smoke door not being optimal condition to protect occupants in the event of a fire is quite high. That is why The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), The International Code Council (ICC), and The Joint Commission all require the inspection of Fire Doors. The two primary NFPA Codes that have requirements for the maintenance and inspection of fire doors are NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®, and NFPA 80, Standard for Fire Doors and Other Protective Opening Protectives®.
Fire doors and door hardware are subject to failure due to the constant usage they take in high traffic areas, such as busy corridors in hospitals and schools. Constant usage can lead to misalignment of the door which could potentially lead to failure of the door to close in the event of a fire, which NFPA claims to be the most common failure of fire doors during an actual fire. Other common non-compliant issues are holes or openings in the fire door assembly, improper gaps, missing labels, failure of latching hardware to operate, missing screws, door coordinator operates improperly, non-working self-closing devices, missing gasketing, improper kick plates (protective plates) sizes, improper field modifications, and numerous other problems.
All of the potential areas that can cause a fire door to be non-compliant have led to updated fire door inspection standards in the 2007 Edition of NFPA 80® that in concert with NFPA 101® have provided a detailed guideline for the inspection and maintenance of fire and smoke doors for facility managers to follow. NFPA 80, Section 5.2.1 states “Fire door assemblies shall be inspected and tested not less then annually, and a written record of the inspection shall be signed and kept for inspection by the AHJ.” NFPA 80 also requires that the inspections be carried out by qualified individuals with understanding of fire rated door assemblies.
These more stringent guidelines for fire and smoke door inspections have led facility managers to begin to seek qualified fire door inspection contractors to carry out a detailed fire door inspection so their buildings can be in compliance with NFPA 80 and NFPA 101. LSS Life Safety Services (LSS) is such a contactor. With experience in over 1,500 commercial facilities throughout the United States and Canada and now servicing the United Kingdom market LSS provides our clients with the experience few other contractors can offer. LSS’ through knowledge of NFPA 80 coupled with extensive classroom training by door and hardware industry experts and in the classroom and in the field provide the client with the comfort of knowing they have contracted with a fire door inspection company to help them meet NFPA Guidelines.
LSS Life Safety Services’ fire door inspection protocol is one of the industry’s most detailed, inspecting over seventy (70) items on each fire door assembly, which more than encompasses NFPA 80, section 5.2.4.2’s eleven (11) major inspection points. At the conclusion of the fire door inspection LSS Life Safety Services provides our client with an industry leading report. The report includes:
- Detailed Project Statistics
- Total Doors, Compliant vs. Non-Compliant
- Total number of each category of Fire-Rated Door
- Most Common Reasons for Failure
- Locations Per Floor / Building
- Percentages of Non-Compliance by Fire Rate Assembly Component
- Detailed Inventory of all the facility’s fire doors (including but not limited to):
- Door Location, number, rating, door handing, reasons for non-compliance.
- Digital Documentation of some non-compliance issues to provide AHJs and the facility’s insurance providers.
As the industry leader in the inspection of fire and smoke dampers LSS Life Safety Services can also offer package programs to inspect a percentage of your facility’s dampers while performing the annual inspection of the fire and smoke doors; giving the client the best value possible.
Our fire door inspection reports are available via our web-based custom Life Safety software, LSS Site Surveyor.
LSS Life Safety Services is on the GSA Federal Supply Schedule, Contract # GS-21F-0056X
GSA Contract Products:
SIN 541-099 – Fire and Smoke Damper Inspections and Repair
SIN 541-099 – Fire Door Inspections
Contact LSS Life Safety Services today to receive more information about our fire and smoke door inspection program.