10 Oct The role of Fire Safety Doors
UAE Fire Safety codes are consistently changing, resulting in new specifications for Fire Safety Doors to meet.
Alongside these updated requirements, come mandatory requirements and a higher level of accountability for establishment owners and safety installers.
The purpose of fire doors is to act as a fixed physical barrier, reducing the pace of a spreading fire. This is done through two methods.
The Physical Approach
Multi-layered, flame-resistant doors are held in strategic parts of an establishment, if a fire does break out, these doors are locked into place. The fire not only struggles to burn through this anti-flammable material but the energy of the fire is worn down whilst individuals are able to escape the establishment. Whilst contained the fire is vulnerable to sprinklers and mist systems to stifle it.
The Starvation Approach
As the fire continues to burn, susceptible to fire prevention technology like sprinklers, the fire doors themselves are serving a secondary purpose, suffocating the amount of oxygen entering the room, and funneling the smoke at a slower pace.
Fire doors can be opened and closed remotely through access control systems in a building, this enables security and safety personnel to control the flow of the fire away from civilians.
With new regulations pressuring establishments to use properly installed fire safety doors, more businesses will be safer in the rest of a fire event.