A steel glazing company is warning that glazed doors, screens and facades are being inspected and passed as fire resistant when in fact they offer little protection.

Denis Wright, chairman of Wrightstyle Limited, has written to the government minister responsible for building regulations, Andrew Stunell MP. In his letter, Mr Wright says there “seems to be an incomplete understanding and enforcement of fire specifications contained within the Approved Document B and the usage requirements of certification data.”

As an example of this, Mr Wright points to unlatched doors with untested or incompatible fire resistant glass being accepted as fire doors, despite the fact that they are “clearly not within the permissible limitations of their supplied test certification.

“We assume what is taking place is that fire safety officers are placing emphasis on the door’s performance as having, for example, 60 minutes of integrity, while paying insufficient attention to the fact that the door types, without an adequate safety latch mechanism or compatible glass, will certainly fail well within that period, allowing fire, heat or gases to pass through.

“There seems to be insufficient guidance to fire or building control officers or consultants as to what needs to be specifically checked on the submitted data. The building regulations simply state that test standards such as BS476 Part 22 or the applicable EN specification should be available. At no point do the regulations require further examination of that test certificate to determine whether or not the installed assembly matches the description in the certification.”

Mr Wright concludes: "On this specific issue, the current regulations are not fit for purpose."

In his reply, the minister said that guidance in Approved Document B includes appendix B on fire doors. “This clearly states,” said Mr Stunell, “that test evidence should be carefully checked to ensure that it its applicable to the complete installed assembly, and warns the reader that small differences in detail such as ironmongery can affect the rating.”
However, the minister acknowledged that “standards can be improved and that guidance may not always be fully adhered to,” and said he has “stressed the need to deliver even better levels of compliance in the future”.