It may not sound very inspiring, but Regulation 38 is crucial for anyone who owns or manages a property.
When a building is built or extended, Regulation 38 requires fire safety information to be provided to the ‘responsible person’ to comply with Building Regulations. The responsible person is usually an individual who has overall control of a building, so could be the owner of an organisation, the facilities manager, landlord or agent.
The information required under Regulation 38 should detail the fire safety features throughout the building, including why they are there and how they work. This should help enable the responsible person to understand the building’s fire strategy, maintain its fire safety systems and carry out an effective fire risk assessment.
The overall aim is to ensure the building can be safely operated and managed well into the future.
Impact on fire doors
At Diamond Fire Safety, a lot of our work involves installing fire doors for public sector clients, including many housing associations and local authorities.
To ensure our clients can appropriately inspect and maintain their fire doors, it is essential that as much information as possible is provided to comply with Regulation 38 and maximise safety for residents.
As well as detailing fire tests and ratings, this information should include all the components used to assemble the doors such as the screws, frame, seals and hinges. Each of these components could affect the performance of the fire door, so it is vital that building owners and managers know how they were manufactured. If these components need to be replaced, then the exact same product must be used to ensure compliance.
Diamond Fire Safety promotes the use of fully certified doorsets to simplify this process.
Fire doors should be inspected periodically, and details of the inspection and any work carried out should be logged.
Expert advice and support
Following inspection, Diamond Fire Safety can perform any remedial actions and as a third party accredited company, we will re-certify our installations and provide full documentation demonstrating commitment to compliance.
We can then return at agreed intervals to maintain fire doors and if required, rectify any issues that may have developed from damage or misuse.
For further information on fire doors and compliance with Regulation 38, please contact Tim Sawka at: [email protected]