Advice to Care home owners and operators following a new court
ruling reinterpreting the position on self-closing fire doors
The report issued following the deaths of 14 residents at the
Rosepark care home fire in Uddingston, Lanarkshire stated that “a
competent risk assessor would have recommended the installation of
self-closers... on bedroom doors as a matter of urgency”.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 places a
requirement upon the responsible person to demonstrate that, in the
event of danger , it must be possible for persons to evacuate the
premises as quickly and safely as possible.
In July 2001 a care home had tried to argue that staff
responding to a fire alarm activation by closing the bedroom doors
would meet the above requirement . However in the Determination in
respect of the use of self-closing devices on bedroom doors in a
care home (FLSP 4/6/4), following advice from the Chief Fire and
Rescue Advisor, the Secretary of State ruled that under article 36
of the Regulatory (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and in this instance,
the use of self-closing devices on bedroom fire doors provided the
most appropriate solution to remedy the failure to comply with
article 14 (2) (b) of the Order.
After careful consideration of the circumstances, the decision
to reject the care home’s case was made on several counts it stated
within the conclusions of this particular case that:
- The responsible person has not demonstrated that the risk can
be controlled by management intervention.
- The fitting of self-closing devices on bedroom doors, without
either the swing free or hold open devices recommended by the
enforcing Authority would be of no advantage as they would be
wedged open during the day, negating their utility. This ignores
the fact that swing free or hold open devices are designed to
mitigate this against this risk.
In addition ‘the responsible person should have recognised that
there is established good practice designed to provide adequate
protection in this situation: the use of self-closing devices on
the bedroom fire doors. This is proportionate and its use is likely
to enable persons to evacuate the premises as quickly and safely as
possible’.
In addition, the judge recommended that, although the doors
should be self closing, they are likely to become wedged, and that
therefore fire doors must be held open by a device linked
(acoustically or hardwired) to the building’s fire detection
system, which will automatically allow the door to close in the
case of a fire.
The ruling therefore highlights the dangers of wedging open fire
doors particularly those of residents’ rooms – and relying on staff
to ensure that doors are closed in an emergency. It has changed the
interpretation of care home fire rules in relation to bedroom fire
doors and those responsible for care homes are being strongly
advised to adhere to the ruling.
View the full ruling at www.communities.gov.uk/documents/fire/pdf/1946970.pdf