Last week I received an email from the facility manager of a large health care facility.  His team has been facing the same “fire door fails” that many of us see regularly – fire doors propped open, latches taped, excessive signage, or other misuse of the fire door assembly.  The answer to these deficiencies caused by building occupants is education, but it’s a never-ending process.  The common response is that they didn’t know it was a fire door, didn’t realize that fire doors could not be propped open, etc.

One possibility that is being considered by this facility is a small label that can be attached to the frame, just above the strike.  The label would clearly state that the door is a fire door, and could include other information to help educate the users of the door opening and remind them that it’s a fire door assembly.  I have sometimes seen signage on fire doors in the US, but not on ALL of the fire doors which is what this facility is considering.  It seems like an idea that has the potential for reducing the number of deficiencies and possibly even saving lives if a fire occurs.

A few questions:

  • Is this currently being done by other facilities?
  • If yes, where are the labels being sourced?
  • What information should be included on the label?
  • Would a QR code leading to more information about fire doors be helpful?
  • Are there concerns about applying a label like this to a fire door or frame?

WWYD?

Thank you for all of your comments and feedback on last week’s Fixed-it Friday post – I really appreciate the help!  I’d love to hear what you think about fire door assembly labels as an educational tool for building occupants.

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