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Annual Fire Door Inspection

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Presentation on theme: "Annual Fire Door Inspection"— Presentation transcript:

1 Annual Fire Door Inspection
Safely Securing the Built Environment NFPA 80 & NFPA 101 The recent changes to NFPA 80 have the potential to significantly enhance life safety in the built environment. Historically opening protective products are well controlled throughout the design & construction cycle beginning with specifications, plan review, permitting, installation and inspection for a certificate of occupancy. However, once a CO was issued, there has historically been no requirement to inspect and maintain a rated opening…...the 2007 Edition of NFPA 80 that we are going to talk about today changes that. Annual Fire Door Inspection

2 Kurt Roeper – Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies
Introductions Kurt Roeper – Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies National Fire Protection Association NFPA 101 – Life Safety Code NFPA 80 – Fire Doors & Rated Opening Protectives NFPA 105 – Smoke Control Door Assemblies International Code Council – Storm Shelter Committee Underwriters Laboratories – Standards Technical Panels

3 NFPA - Annual Fire Door Inspection
Today’s Agenda Background & Context of NFPA Changes Annual Inspection Requirements Owner’s Responsibilities AHJ’s Responsibilities So let’s take a look at today’s agenda…. Before we jump right into the middle of what’s new, I would like to provide some background and context for the substance within 80 Since we are going to spend so much time talking about fire doors, I thought it would be appropriate to show you a brief video of a fire door test Then we can begin to go through today’s subject, reviewing the annual inspection requirements Once we understand the “what” part of the inspection, we begin to talk about “who”…as an owner or facility manager, what are my responsibilities? And equally as important, as the Authority Having Jurisdiction, what are the responsibilities? As we go through this please stop us and ask questions at any time, if something isn’t quite clear, or if we go past something too fast, please ask! We will take a break around 10, we will conclude at or slightly before noon, with lunch served.

4 Why Do We Need This? I spend a great deal of time dealing with model codes and fire safety standards and it’s something I have a lost of passion for, and here’s why…..people continue to lose their lives in the very settings where they go seeking entertainment and a night out….assembly occupancies, where they work, business occupancies – where they shop, mercantile occupancies. And what do we often find as a significant contributing factor? – doors. So why do we spend a great deal of time presenting information on this topic? Because we believe in it….because it continues to be real problem….because there are too many people doing the wrong thing – because it’s “easier” for them

5

6 Why Do We Need This? The United States experienced the devastating loss of 100 persons in 2003, in a nightclub fire. A common thread of these events is the fact that they didn’t have to happen…we know how to provide for safe egress from buildings, yet we often fail to provide for it, or more common maintain it when it has been provided ….and that’s really what we’re here to talk about today, maintaining the opening

7 Why Do We Need This?

8 Why Do We Need This? So if anybody was doing the math as we went , you counted 709 total deaths in the space of 22 months….all due to flagrant violations of life safety codes….all centered around safe egress……most related in some way to doors

9 Sofa Super Store – Charleston, SC
“Investigators Seize More Fire Evidence Items Linked to Possible Code Violations” Charleston Post & Courier August 22, 2007 Jay Lowry, a former Charleston firefighter and fire inspector, said fire doors can serve a vital role in slowing the spread of fire. Keeping exit doors clear also is key because they provide people with a way in and out of a building during emergencies “Any businesses out there with locks on their exit doors, I'll tell you, they're setting themselves up for a bad, bad time.” Sofa Super Store – Charleston, SC I don’t present this piece without sincere respect for those that lost their life…..but there is a very true saying in the code development circles that the codes are written by dead people….and the longer I have been doing this the more I know that to be true….sad, but true. In Charleston South Carolina – summer of nine fire fighters were lost….there was a lot of discussion and finger pointing about operational command and control, and a host of other issues, but when it was sorted out, one of the major findings centered around fire doors that were locked, blocked, inoperable.

10 Anybody think they could get out in an emergency
Anybody think they could get out in an emergency? Does anybody but me find irony in the fact that the fire extinguisher gets inspected on a regular basis to ensure it is ready for operation, but the emergency exit is locked tighter than Fort Knox?

11 Fire Door Inspection Process Background & Context
Fire Doors are governed by the building code and NFPA throughout design, specification, installation and occupancy permitting. As many of you know, fire doors are very well regulated throughout design, specification and installation of rated openings, including the language of the Life Safety Code, NFPA 80 and the International Building Code

12 Fire Door Inspection Process Background & Context
Once a Certificate of Occupancy has been issued, the building code is closed. The Fire Code or Life Safety Code is now in effect for the operation and maintenance of the facility. But once a facility has received a certificate of occupancy, the Building Code is closed, and ceases to have effect, as the Fire Code is now in effect for operation and maintenance of the facility.

13 Fire Door Inspection Process
The International Fire Code now contains language requiring post-occupancy inspections of swinging fire doors So is that so bad? Well, all that work we put into making certain that doors were self-closing and self latching, had proper clearances and undercuts rated glazing and so on, has no requirement to be maintained under the Fire Code…..we believed that was significant gap and needed to be addressed….it doesn’t make much sense to that much regulation up until the point when the building is allowed to be occupied, and then not worry about it ever again

14 Fire Door Inspection Process
The Life Safety Code now contains language requiring post-occupancy inspections of swinging fire doors and doors in the means of egress

15 NFPA 80 2007 – Standard for Fire Doors Chapter 5 Care & Maintenance
5.2.1* Fire door assemblies shall be inspected and tested not less than annually, and a written record of the inspection shall be signed and kept for inspection by the AHJ.  I walked through the process where we proposed the requirement to the International Fire Code. Alternately we proposed similar language to the National Fire Protection Association. The language you see above was proposed and accepted into 80 and is now resident within the 2007 edition. It is very important to note that this inspection is not the responsibility of the AHJ….those of you that are AHJ’s now have language that authorizes you to request inspection records for review. Those of you that are owners, managers, facilities engineering personnel now have a new responsibility….we’ll talk a little more about that before were done today. So what is required, we’ll this is the language…

16 NFPA 80 2007 – Standard for Fire Doors Chapter 5 Care & Maintenance
Functional testing of fire door and window assemblies shall be performed by individuals with knowledge and understanding of the operating components of the type of door being subject to testing.  The inspection is the responsibility of the owner, “performed by individuals with knowledge and understanding”…..so as an owner, does NFPA require me to bring a third-party in to my facility to inspect my fire doors? NO…they have to ensure that the inspections are performed; performed by individuals with knowledge and understanding; and that written records are maintained. Now as with other inspection requirements, there often is a desire on the part of building owners to bring trained and qualified people in for inspections, but it is not a mandate. 80 allows for people on the facility staff to perform this function if they choose.

17 NFPA 80 2007 – Standard for Fire Doors Chapter 5 Care & Maintenance
The requirements of this chapter shall apply to new and existing installations. Another very critical element important to note is that this requirement applies to new and existing fire rated openings. So there is now a requirement to annually inspect existing building stock, not just new construction as you add on, renovate or build new structures

18 NFPA 80 2007 – Standard for Fire Doors
As a minimum, the following items shall be verified:   No open holes or breaks exist in surfaces (2)   Glazing, vision light frames, and glazing beads are intact (3)   The door, frame, hinges, hardware, and noncombustible threshold are secured, aligned, and in working order (4)   No parts are missing or broken.  OK….so what am I supposed to inspect? Well, here is a summary of what 80 requires……

19 NFPA 80 2007 – Standard for Fire Doors
(4) No parts are missing or broken.  No parts missing or broken, from the simple example of a closer arm or a latch it can get significantly worse....can anybody identify the missing part in this picture?

20 NFPA 80 2007 – Standard for Fire Doors
As a minimum, the following items shall be verified:  (5)   Door clearances do not exceed the clearances listed OK….so what am I supposed to inspect? Well, here is a summary of what 80 requires……

21 NFPA 80 2007 – Standard for Fire Doors
Door clearances at the door edge to the frame, on the pull side of the door, do not exceed clearances listed in and Hollow metal door -1/8” (+/- 1/16”), door to frame and at meeting stiles of pairs – Wood door - 1/8” maximum, door to frame and at meeting stiles of pairs – 3/4” between bottom of door and floor or threshold – The specific requirements are found in these sections. In general, we’re concerned with the clearance around the perimeter of the door / frame interface, at the meeting edge of pairs of doors, and at the floor. Now here is an interesting point where the standard differentiates between hollow metal fire doors and wood fire doors. Why do we care?

22 NFPA 80 2007 – Standard for Fire Doors Chapter 5 Care & Maintenance
As a minimum, the following items shall be verified: (6)    The self-closing device is operational  The first five requirements were really looking at the whole opening, but now we start to drill down to specific elements of the assembly. Remember that one of the fundamentals of a rated opening is that it must be self closing and self latching, so let’s take a closer look at how we do that….number six says the self closing device must be operational.

23 Self Closing or Automatic Closing?
NFPA – Standard for Fire Doors Self Closing or Automatic Closing? Self-Closing Doors – Doors that when opened and released return to the closed position 3.3.7 Automatic-Closing Doors – A door that normally is open but that closes when the automatic closing device is activated The standard recognizes different types of closing devices, for today’s discussion were going to stick to self and automatic closing, but for reference you can see the definition of the third type, Power Operated. So how does a self closing door look compared to an automatic closing door?

24 NFPA 80 2007 – Standard for Fire Doors Chapter 5 Care & Maintenance
As a minimum, the following items shall be verified: (7)    If a coordinator is installed, the inactive leaf closes before active leaf.  OK, where are we…number seven, if a coordinator is installed I’m supposed to be sure that the inactive leaf closes before the active leaf. Alright, we are obviously taking about pairs of doors here, where the active door will often latch into the inactive, so the closing sequence is important….OK what’s a coordinator?

25 NFPA 80 2007 – Standard for Fire Doors Chapter 5 Care & Maintenance
As a minimum, the following items shall be verified:  (8)  Latching hardware operates and secures the door when it is in the closed position.  There are many types of hardware used to latch a door, but inspecting and testing for this requirement is pretty easy; close the door and pull on it without activating the latch release mechanism. You’d be surprised, or maybe you wouldn’t, at the number of doors where the latch has been removed turning the door into a push / pull type opening. Often times the lever set is still attached to the face of the door, but when you look at the latch edge you’ll find something missing

26 NFPA 80 2007 – Standard for Fire Doors Chapter 5 Care & Maintenance
As a minimum, the following items shall be verified: (9)   Auxiliary hardware items that interfere or prohibit operation are not installed Are we done yet? Almost…number nine, auxiliary hardware items that interfere or prohibit operation are not installed. What is considered an auxiliary hardware item?

27 NFPA 80 2007 – Standard for Fire Doors Chapter 5 Care & Maintenance
As a minimum, the following items shall be verified: (10)  No field modifications to the door have been performed Item 10, another general requirement, but consider adding things to the face of the door, or cutting glass lites or louvers into rated doors

28 NFPA 80 2007 – Standard for Fire Doors Chapter 5 Care & Maintenance
As a minimum, the following items shall be verified:  (11)  Gasketing and edge seals are inspected And last, item 11, gasketing and edge seals. This refers to two elements of a fire door, first the smoke seals applied to wood or hollow metal doors, and second, the intumescent strips that may be applied to wood fire doors

29 NFPA 80 2007 – Standard for Fire Doors Chapter 5 Care & Maintenance
5.2.2 Performance-Based Option As an alternate means of compliance with 5.2.1, subject to the AHJ, fire door assemblies shall be permitted to be inspected, tested, and maintained under a written performance-based program.  OK, we made it through the 11 criteria that have to be inspected on each fire door. Not unreasonable for a small or medium sized facility, but how many of you are associated with or responsible for facilities with thousands of rated openings? Well here is a section that you may want to pay particular attention to, which is a performance based option. What exactly is that? The concept is this – where you have a very high number of fire doors, you design an audit program, where an agreed upon number are physically inspected each year, and if they have a high rate of conformity, the balance are deemed to comply.

30 NFPA 80 2007 – Standard for Fire Doors Chapter 5 Care & Maintenance
5.2.2 Performance-Based Option.  Goals established under a performance-based program shall provide assurance that the fire door assembly will perform its intended function when exposed to fire conditions.  Technical justification for inspection, testing, and maintenance intervals shall be documented.  So what is open to negotiation with the AHJ when pursuing a performance based option? Most everything….the frequency, the sample size, the passage rate, the record keeping. Remember, the intent of this program is to ensure that fire doors work as they were designed, even after 3 – 5 or ten years of service. So with some careful planning and concise presentation to the AHJ, it would seem reasonable that the details could be agreed upon

31 NFPA – Annual Fire Door Inspection

32 NFPA – Annual Fire Door Inspection
AHJ’s Responsibilities This publication help walk through much of what we discussed today, and provide a nice concise point of reference

33 NFPA 80 – Annual Fire Door Inspection
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