Fire Exit Door Wedged Open

Fire door standards and legislative requirements.
Fire exit door wedged open. While our investigations may suggest a particular fire door might not perform to the required standard all doors can. It was not only for fire doors being wedged open. The link provided it states the inspection also revealed escape routes that were obstructed fire exit doors wedged open and combustible items obstructing fire doors. And to finally address fire rated door assemblies section 8 3 3 1 requires all doors required to have a fire protection rating to comply with nfpa 80 which requires self closing devices on the doors.
What exactly is meant by the term fire exit doors granted this seems to refer to final exit doors. Fire doors being wedged open was one of the counts apparently in tesco s colney hatch store in barnet on 14 october 2007. But there are some doors that you could. Wedging or propping open a fire door can prove devastating as it allows fire to spread unchecked putting lives and buildings at risk.
Fire doors are inside buildings residential and commercial and are internal doors that need to be kept closed in order to stop the spread of fire between different areas of a building. Fire doors have to be kept close at all times unless certified fire door retainers are installed not just a door wedge which hold the fire door open until a fire alarm is set off. Anything that could prevent the door from closing and latching properly during an emergency condition such as propping the door open with objects taping the latch using wood wedges or kick down door stops or overriding the closing device is a violation of the standards. But it s not as simple as saying don t wedge that door.
Despite this 64 of premises visited by the fire service have fire doors wedged open. Certified fire doors of solid timber construction are designed to resist the smoke and flames of a fire for a minimum specified length of time typically 30. Contrary to what some might believe there is a difference between fire doors and fire exit doors. We want fire doors open as they are a nuisance in everyday life.
Other alterations such as wedging fire doors open to reduce the need to touch door handles or sealing fire doors in order to prevent air movement between sections of a building could affect fire safety measures to provide protection from fire and access to means of escape. Fire doors work as part of a layered fire protection system within a building. So any fire rated door assembly may not be wedged open.