In the past 6 months, demand for fire door inspections has grown exponentially – especially in health care facilities because of the CMS and Joint Commission adoption of the 2012 edition of NFPA 101 – The Life Safety Code. One of the challenges when instituting a fire door inspection program is finding a way to store the information gathered during the inspection, utilize it after the inspection is complete, and retrieve the relevant information the next time an inspection is conducted. (There’s more information about fire door inspections on the Fire Door page of this site.)
About 5 years ago I was in a large hospital that had just spent thousands of dollars (probably tens of thousands) to have a “pre-Joint-Commission inspection” done. I asked the facility manager if I could see the data from their survey, and he handed me a stack of paper several inches high with information about each fire door in the hospital. He had questions about some of the doors, so we attempted to use the paper forms to figure out which doors we needed to look at. Then the problem was finding the door openings within the building, so we could see the problem first-hand – there was not enough detailed information on the forms.
For me, a huge stack of paper forms is cumbersome and needlessly difficult to deal with. Considering the technology available today, there has to be a better way. Last week I received the video below, which describes a fire door inspection app from DoorData Solutions. I am not affiliated with this company, but I have seen the software and have known the owner of the company for years. Hal Kelton is an AHC/CDC, an FDAI, a CDT, and is also an AAADM-certified inspector, so he obviously understands doors and hardware.
Check out the video, and leave any questions in the reply box. Hal will be happy to answer them.
DOORDATA 2.0 from Hal Kelton on Vimeo.
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Do you have another solution or tip for fire door inspection? Let me know!
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The video describes door data solutions software as an iOS application. Is there an android or windows version for those of us who do not use utilize Apple products?
We have a cross platform solution that will work on both Android and iPad (iOS) check out onestepsystem.com We signed an agreement with DHI in 2008 to develop a solution similar to the solution we have been providing fire depts since 2001. One Step can be hosted by us as an option and we take care of all the tech overhead or if you have resources available, can be kept on your web server. One Step is proven software being used by hundreds of inspectors across North America. Call me if you are still looking for a proven solution. 1.800.469.1166 Pacific Time
It makes sense to have clear, concise and attainable information that is accessible year after year.
The thought that someone has finally put this together is wonderful.
Hi David,
Thank you for your interest. To answer your question DOORDATA has two components: The web application is a browser-based product that is accessible from any desktop pc. While the mobile component (for the field) is only available in a native iOS app, and works on the iPhone, iTouch and iPad products. Earlier this year we started developing our Android version of the mobile DOORDATA client and look forward to releasing it soon.
Can I make my own or adjustments to the inspection form?