This information was shared by BM TRADA, after the fire door test held on September 15, 2014:

A short note from our live fire test presenters.

Firstly, thank you all for taking the time to watch our live fire door test yesterday. From the comments and feedback we’ve had so far, viewers found it extremely informative and a valuable learning experience.

We thought it would be useful to highlight the key points from the test, and to also mention some of the points we may have missed during the broadcast.

Dealing with failure points:

For reasons of health and safety, fire resistance testing has to be carried out in a controlled environment. We deliberately deal with failures as they happen so that we can continue the test and identify later failure points. This may be very useful in later assessments of the test data, or may help identify weaknesses which need addressing prior to a re-test.

In reality of course, any failures would be left unchecked and the fire would rapidly spread. Indeed, we know from our testing experience that had we left any of these failures, the doorset would rapidly have been consumed.

The two sample doorsets:

Doorset 1 was specified, manufactured and correctly installed in-line with the instructions provided by the manufacturer and by a suitably qualified fire door installer.

Doorset 2, was incorrectly specified and installed and included a number of faulty elements typically found in the manufacturing and installation process.

Key failure points – Doorset 2

3 minutes: The first failure which happened at only three minutes, was the burn through of the Fire Door sign which had been placed over an old hardware position which had been left as a void rather than correctly in-filled.

8 minutes: At about 8 minutes we saw a failure of the letter plate which had been fitted without its intumescent gasket.

12 minutes: At about 12 minutes we saw a failure between the back of the frame and the structural surround.

16 minutes: At about 16 minutes we had a failure at the head of the leaf.

A general observation: by just about half way through the test the incorrectly specified doorset had significantly failed in four separate areas, whereas by contrast, the correctly specified and installed doorset showed no signs of any failure at all – right up to the end of the test.

On-demand viewing of the test:

If you would like to watch the test again or if you have colleagues who you think would benefit from watching the test, simply click the link below.

http://www.chilternfire.co.uk/fire-resistance-testing/fire-door-safety-week—30-minute-live-fire-test

Questions asked during and after the test:

Both during and after the live stream, a number of you e-mailed in with your questions. We will respond separately to your questions with a brief answer in the next day or two.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to watch today’s test. If you would like to find out more about the testing and certification of fire doors, we run regular training days both here at our High Wycombe office, or ‘on the road’. Alternatively, please e-mail us at either rnewman@bmtrada.com  or sdell@bmtrada.com

Kind regards,

Simon Bailey / Ross Newman