Fire Door Closers – How to Improve Ease of Movement Within Care Homes

Wednesday 12th November 2014

For those confined to care homes, moving freely within the immediate environment is essential for their well-being and self-esteem. However, fire regulations require that fire doors, such as those installed in gangways and often in bedrooms, are kept closed to prevent the spread of smoke and flames in the event of a fire. The hydraulic door closers, usually installed for this purpose, make the fire doors difficult to open for the elderly and those who require walking aids. Installing a normal fire door retainer to hold the fire door open against the pressure of a traditional door closer does not fully address this problem, as it still requires the fire door to be opened in the first place before it can be retained in the open position.

This is where Free-Swing Fire Door Closers would be more suitable. They allow the user to open and close the fire door like any other door – without any resistance. The door can also be left open in any desired position. If the fire alarm goes off the fire door will, of course, close and the occupants of the building are protected against the spread of fire and smoke.

Some of Safelincs’ Free-Swing Door Closers require wiring into the fire alarm panel to send a signal to the closer to ensure the door is closed when a fire is detected. Our Freedor Free-Swing Door Closer on the other hand, does not require any wiring at all. Similar to the well known Dorgard, manufactured by the same UK company, the Freedor ‘listens’ for the sound of an alarm system and will close the fire door as soon as the acoustic signal is received. The Freedor unit is battery powered and is also suitable for retro-fitting on existing fire doors.

Harry Dewick-Eisele, Managing Director at Safelincs, explains “The Freedor overcomes the need to install a door closer as well as a retainer. It is fitted in the same position as a traditional fire door closer and deals with the entire issue of the safe opening and closing of fire doors. It is a huge improvement for care homes but also children centres and other public spaces where traditional door closers can lead to difficulties for users.”

If you require any further information call 0800 433 4289 where our Customer Service Team are available to answer any questions you may have.

A buying guide for security safes and fireproof safes

Friday 7th November 2014

Fireproof Safe There is a huge choice of safes in the market and it is difficult and sometimes confusing to make a buying decision without some guidance. We have therefore compiled a short buying guide to help you, although you can of course ring us for advice if you prefer. We are always happy to help.

You may want to purchase a safe due to either an event that has triggered your need to buy a safe or simply because your insurance policy states that you need to have one for your property or business. Ultimately, you purchase a safe to protect an item from being stolen or damaged in the event of a burglary, fire and increasingly flooding.

Most safes will show an insurance rating designed to indicate the level of security that the safe will provide. The higher the insurance rating normally means the more secure the safe is, however you should always check with your insurance underwriter that they will actually cover you for the value you need. Just like all insurance the value may vary depending on you individual circumstances.

You may initially only need a safe to protect cash and valuables, however, many people eventually keep the following items in their safe, so it is important to chose a safe that is big enough!

Certificates
Deeds
Contracts
Passports
Photo’s – digital or paper
Videos – digital
Licenses
All items/documentation that will help you start again after a fire
Backup drives for computers and servers
HR files

When purchasing a safe consider what would happen if you lost the key or forgot the code to gain entry. Not all brands offer a key replacement or code retrieval service, which you may need very quickly to gain access to your safe. Safelincs’ suppliers provide a key replacement and code retrieval service to ensure that you can access your safe again quickly (special exceptions apply). You will need to keep some evidence, such as an invoice, about your purchase in a safe place, however this should not be in the safe itself, so that when the need arises you can quickly request a new key or a new access code.

Fireproof Safes

There is a myth that all safes will offer a level of protection against fire, however, because steel is a good conductor of heat, ordinary safes become an oven if exposed to fire and will incinerate its contents unless the safe has a fire resistant barrier in the body and door.

Fireproof safes, also called fire safes, are designed to protect the contents from fire while still providing some level of protection from theft. It’s important that all safes claiming to offer a level of protection from fire have this independently certified from a 3rd party test agency. This is important because you want to be able to trust the safe you have purchased to perform exactly in accordance with the manufacturer’s claims.

Most fire tests will offer 3 levels of fire resistant in terms of time:

Good = 30 mins
Better = 60 mins
Best = 120 mins

The temperatures vary slightly between tests but are mostly:

843°c
927°c
1010°c

The UL (USA) Class 350 test also includes a drop test after burning to ensure the door of the safe doesn’t open if dropped from a height (simulating a floor in a burning building collapsing). The 2 drop tests are:

15ft (4.5m)
30ft (9.1m)

Some fire safes in the market also protect its contents from water. There are two grades of water protection. Protection against immersion (flooding) and protection against spray (from a fire fighter’s hose).

We offer a range of specialist fireproof safes for the permanent storage and protection of hard drives. These hard drives stay inside of a fireproof safe and are powered and linked to via a USB connection that passes through the wall of the safe. This allows you to automatically create computer backups to external hard drives which are stored in a fireproof safe without ever having to move or unplug hard drives for backup purposes.

All safes purchased from Safelincs come with free delivery to your door. An indoor delivery can be quoted by us.

Safelincs offers a free replacement after a fire should your safe be affected by a fire.

Keeping a fire door open legally… and safely

Thursday 6th November 2014

Dorgard Fire Door Retainers Fire safety company Safelincs operates a website called firescout that invites visitors to submit photographs of any potentially dangerous situations they have spotted. All entries are anonymous, the idea being to educate rather than ‘name and shame’. Safelincs then offers advice as to whether the situation could incur a fine and how much, if anything, it would cost to remedy the situation.
A common misdemeanour is to prop open a fire door, sometimes with a fire extinguisher – a double transgression!

Fire doors are an essential part of the fabric of a building and have two important functions in the event of a fire; when closed they form a barrier to stop the spread of fire or smoke and when opened they provide a means of escape. They are designed to be kept closed except when people are passing through them. In some businesses, and in places such as care homes or schools, closed fire doors can act as a hindrance to general mobility and moving around to perform essential tasks. However, there is a way in which the situation can be overcome without compromising safety or breaking the law.

Safelincs provide a number of products manufactured by specialist manufacturer Fireco which allow fire doors to be kept open legally and safely. Each of these products works by responding to the sound (anything above 65 decibels) of a fire alarm; the mechanism holding the door open is released and the door closer on the fire door closes it to prevent the spread of fire and smoke spreading around the building.

Dorgard, the first innovative product from Fireco, is a wireless appliance that can be screwed to the base of a door in less than five minutes. The standalone device will then hold the door open at any angle allowing freedom of access throughout the building. Utilising acoustic technology, Dorgard ‘listens’ for a continuous alarm of 65dBA or higher which, once heard, will automatically release the door. Dorgard is available in a variety of colours and finishes which will blend in with any décor.

Fireco also produces the Dorgard Pro System which extends the versatility of Dorgard by linking several different devices and overcomes the issue of noisy workplaces. A transmitter is wirelessly installed next to a fire alarm sounder or hardwired into the fire alarm system. In the event of a fire, Dorgard Pro will wirelessly transmit simultaneously to multiple Dorgard Pro units within a 100 metre range. Safelincs will visit an organisation’s premises and undertake a free survey and make recommendations for siting an effective system.

Another product from Fireco is Freedor, a unique wire free solution that allows a door to free-swing just like a normal door and to be held open at any angle – automatically closing the door in a controlled manner when a fire alarm sounds. It utilises the same technology that is employed in Dorgard but is fixed unobtrusively to the top of the door. Using Freedor allows freedom of access throughout the building for disabled people and people less able to operate the doors, and assists businesses complying with the Equality Act 2010.

All these products have applications in a wide variety of environments and allow easy movement through a building without compromising safety or contravening fire safety regulations.

To find out more about the Fireco range go to www.safelincs.co.uk and follow the link to Fire Door and Exit Equipment or call 0800 433 4289 where there are friendly experts on hand to offer advice.