Fire door installation and certification.

[burntbacon]

Hi all, 

I had a question about installing fire door assemblies in commercial premises. I get asked about installing fire door assemblies very rarely. Probably 3-4 times a year. I looked into the BM Trada Q Mark qualification but unfortunately the annual membership makes it prohibitively expensive. It's a shame because I want to do the right thing and I would love to do the course. There is just not an option for low volume installs.

My question is, would I be able to install a fire door assembly, inspect it (I'm going for my CertFDI at the moment) and write out a cert? Basically I would be the installer and the Inspector certifying the install. 

I will have liability as both the installer and the certifying inspector so nothing can be hidden. 

[Tom Sutton]

All that is required to install fire door assemblies is you should be a Competent Person which is defined in The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 article 18 and sub article 5, states,

 (5) A person is to be regarded as competent for the purposes of this article where he has sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities to enable him properly to assist in undertaking the preventive and protective measures.

Assuming you are a good joiner and hopefully will have CertFDI I would think you would be considered a Competent Person.

[Guest Ian Cavanagh]

Tom, I suggest there is no official requirement for anyone installing a fire door to be qualified in any way - crazy though it is.

It’s also important to consider that ‘self-certification’ (especially of fire protection elements such as fire doors) is being frowned upon (based on experience I understand) and there are rumblings of it being unsuitable.

[Tom Sutton]

Ian you are correct but anybody assisting the RP has to be competent person and the RR(FS)O says " A person is to be regarded as competent for the purposes of this article where he has sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities to enable him properly to assist in undertaking the preventive and protective measures." In my opinion this means he has to be qualified in someway and needs proof to satisfy the RP.

[Neil ashdown]

As Tom says, the RR(FS)O defines Competent Person as somebody with sufficient training and experience or knowledge and other qualities. It does not require that the Competent Person has a dedicated qualification.

Whether or not it should is subjective and in my opinion depends on a number of factors.  Certification is not always a guarantee of quality and with regard to fire door installation the end result depends, as much as anything, on the diligence of the installer.

Edited December 31, 2019 by Neil ashdown
To correct typing error