The Healthy Option

Peter Barker, Chiltern International Fire’s head of section: consultancy, discusses the many functions fire doors have to perform in hospitals and care homes

A FIRE doorset specified for use in a hospital may have to offer more than simply fire resistance
– although nothing must detract from its primary function, to resist the passage of fire and control its spread, especially in a high occupancy building.

There are, however, as many requirements for additional performance and design characteristics as there are functions in a hospital. Crosscorridor doors will need to withstand constant opening and closing, as well as resisting damage from regular impact from hospital trolleys and wheelchairs.

Doors into clean rooms must be totally hygienic to avoid harbouring harmful bacteria, while high security wards must safeguard patients and staff.

A snapshot of the functions that may be required demonstrates quite how much hospital doors
may have to do in their lifetime, bearing in mind that the list above is not exhaustive.

Some or all of the above functions may be designed in, but the doorset must still be able to provide the required level of fire resistance, to ensure that its integrity as a fire-resisting product has not been breached.

The performance of the door must be considered as a doorset; ie the door leaf/leaves, frame and all other associated component parts, including hardware. Supporting test evidence for each of the component parts or performance functions cannot be considered in isolation.

Test bodies such as Chiltern International Fire will work with manufacturers to help demonstrate that a doorset design can meet the required performance. This may mean interpreting and assessing test evidence to provide a scope of cover for hospital doors tailored to a particular specification, or developing an appropriate test programme for doors or components that are not covered by the scope of the original fire test. Increasingly, third-party certification of the doorset and its installation is being called for.

It is important to stress that fire resistance performance must be demonstrated in all cases to
the required period (eg 30/60/120 minutes) under BS 476: Part 22: 1987 Fire tests on building
materials and structures. Methods for determination of the fire resistance of non-loadbearing
elements of construction or BS EN 1634-1 Fire resistance tests for door and shutter assemblies.

Fire doors and shutters. What additional test evidence should be expected for each function,
however, and what documentation needs to be in place to satisfy Building Control and others?

Any door within a hospital environment must serve its purpose, whether that be protecting patients in terms of cleanliness, reduction in infection risk or enhancing security. However, it must also provide protection in terms of fire resistance and, critically, compartmentation. In the event of fire, hospitals often rely on phased evacuation of patients, where time is of the essence.

Fire doors that provide the required level of compartmentation and meet the additional requirements of a modern hospital are therefore integral to the future of health and safety in the public health sector.

For more information email cif@chilternfire.co.uk or phone 01494 569800.