A couple of years ago, someone called me during the UK’s Fire Door Safety Week. I remember it clearly because not too many people call me these days – almost everyone emails instead. The purpose of the call was to ask why we don’t have a Fire Door Safety Week in the US, and whether I would be willing to take on the project.
I’m generally very bad at turning down a request, no matter how challenging, but I recognize how much effort goes into Fire Door Safety Week and the year-round education about fire doors. I admit, I often feel like I’m under water just trying to manage what’s currently on my plate. There are a lot of you and one of me.
I love the idea of Fire Door Safety Week – a focal point for information about fire door assemblies that carries on throughout the year. If we decided to attempt such a campaign in the US, we could benefit from the momentum that has been built in the UK, and vice versa. On the UK website, there’s a downloadable 80-page guide on fire door assemblies (80 PAGES!), a 5-step checklist, 101 facts about fire doors, fire door myths and facts, and the video that I shared yesterday. There’s also a media pack with photo galleries, case studies, an infographic, a report on last year’s Fire Door Safety Week, and other valuable information and links.
As I mentioned when sharing the video, the UK codes and standards are not exactly the same as those in the US, but the British Woodworking Federation has done a great job with these resources and we could learn from their efforts.
WWYD? Do we need a Fire Door Safety Week in the US? If yes, who has the resources to dedicate to such an effort? Where do we begin?
Image: FireDoorSafetyWeek.co.uk
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News Flash: NFPA is hosting a webinar THIS THURSDAY on some of the changes from the 2015 edition of NFPA 101 to the 2018 edition. The description of the webinar is here, and you can register here.
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Fire Door Safety Week is a terrific idea! An even better idea would be to enforce the codes that currently exist concerning annual fire door inspections for all buildings, not just health care facilities. The AHJ’s must get on board.
The NFPA has sponsored Fire Prevention Week since 1922. DHI is all about Door Security + Safety. How about a collaborative effort between DHI and NFPA. To Jeff’s point, with NFPA involved AHJs would get on board.
And get the AIA on board to get the Architects and Designers on board as well.