Fire door inspection checklist

What the law requires in workplaces

Fire safety law is different in each part of Britain. This page describes England and Wales, where the law is the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Scotland has its own legislation, the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005, which also requires employers to assess fire risk and take fire safety measures. The checklist further down is about the door itself and is useful anywhere.

The Order puts its duties on the "responsible person". In a workplace that is the employer, if the workplace is to any extent under their control. In other premises it is whoever has control of the premises in connection with a business, or the owner.

Article 17 is the one that matters for fire doors. Where it is necessary to keep people safe, the responsible person must make sure that the premises, and any facilities, equipment and devices provided for fire safety, are "subject to a suitable system of maintenance and are maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair". A fire door is one of those facilities. Which doors need to be fire doors is decided by your fire risk assessment, which is a legal requirement in its own right.

The Order does not say how often fire doors must be checked. It says "a suitable system of maintenance", and the intervals below come from government guidance.

Extra rules for blocks of flats in England

Regulation 10 of the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 added specific duties from 23 January 2023. They apply in England only, to buildings containing two or more sets of domestic premises with common parts that residents would use to escape.

In every such building, whatever its height, the responsible person must tell residents that fire doors should be kept shut when not in use, that self-closing devices must not be tampered with, and that faults or damage should be reported straight away. That information goes to each new resident as soon as reasonably practicable after they move in, and to all residents every 12 months.

Where the building is above 11 metres in height, measured to the top storey, the responsible person must also:

• check any fire doors in the communal areas at least every 3 months;
• use best endeavours to check the fire door at the entrance of each flat at least every 12 months;
• keep a record of the steps taken to check flat entrance doors, including the steps taken to try to gain access where it was not granted.

Both checks must include making sure the self-closing devices are working. The government's guidance describes a building over 11 metres as typically one of more than four storeys.

The same government guidance on fire door checks is clear about what these checks are and are not. They are simple visual checks that need no tools and no specialist. They are not a test of whether an older door meets the standard for a new one. Whether a door gives enough fire resistance is a question for the fire risk assessment.

How often to check fire doors

The weekly and six-monthly figures come from the Home Office's guide to making small non-domestic premises safe from fire, which presents them as an example routine based on current best practice. They are a sound starting point for a small workplace. Doors that take heavy traffic or get knocked by trolleys wear faster and should be looked at more often.

Who can do the check

For routine checks, someone on your own staff who has been shown what to look for. The government's guidance, which was written for blocks of flats, says the checks should be simple and basic, that you should not need to engage a specialist, and that caretakers and maintenance staff can do them in the course of other visits. The same applies to routine checks in a workplace.

There are two limits. Repair or replacement of a fire door must be done by a competent contractor. And the guidance says routine checks do not replace periodic assessment of the doors by a fire safety specialist, for example on a sample of doors during the fire risk assessment.

Fire door inspection checklist

Use one sheet for each door and give every door a number. You need to see both faces, so open the door and look at each side and at the edges. Each line is written so that "yes" means the door passes. The points follow the government's fire door guidance.

Door and frame

• The door is the fire door that was there before and has not been swapped for an ordinary door
• Any label or marking showing the door's fire rating is still in place and readable
• The door has no splits, holes, warping or other damage
• No hole has been left where a lock or handle was removed
• Nothing has been cut into or fitted to the door since the last check
• The frame is undamaged and firmly fixed, and the wall around it is sound

Gaps

• The gap between the door and the frame is no more than 4 mm at the sides and top
• The gap under the door is as small as it can be without the door catching the floor
• The door sits square in the frame and does not bind or rub

Seals

• Intumescent strips and smoke seals, where fitted, are all present and undamaged
• The seals make contact with the door edge or the frame
• The seals have not been painted over

Hinges and ironmongery

• Every hinge is firmly fixed, with no missing or loose screws
• Hinges show no obvious wear or damage
• Handles, locks and latches are secure and work
• Any letterbox closes firmly and is not jammed open
• Any ventilation grille in the door is undamaged

Self-closing device and latch

• A self-closing device is fitted and has not been disconnected or tampered with
• The closer is firmly fixed and shows no visible damage
• Opened fully and let go, the door closes fully into its frame
• Opened to about 15 degrees and let go, the door closes fully into its frame
• The door overcomes the latch and any friction with the floor without being pushed
• On a pair of doors, the leaves close in the right order

Glazing

• Glass in the door, and in any side or over panel, is intact with no cracks
• The beading and seals holding the glass are in place and secure

Hold-open devices

• Any door held open is held by a device that releases it when smoke is detected
• The door releases and closes fully when the device's test button is pressed
• No door is wedged or propped open

Signs and use

• Fire door signs, where fitted, are in place and readable
• Nothing is stored against the door or stops it closing
• Doors to plant rooms, service cupboards and risers that are meant to be kept locked are locked

What to do when a door fails

• Put right what you can on the spot. Remove the wedge, move the stored boxes, close the letterbox.
• Get repairs done by a competent contractor as soon as reasonably practicable. That covers closers that will not shut the door, damaged seals, loose hinges and gaps that have opened up. Home Office guidance says that using contractors certificated under an industry scheme helps you verify competence, and reminds you that responsibility for their work stays with you.
• Do not assume the door must be replaced. The government's fact sheet on regulation 10 says there is no requirement to replace a fire door because it does not meet the current standard for new doors, provided it remains in full working order from a fire safety point of view.
• Refer doubts about fire resistance to your fire risk assessor. A door that has been swapped, cut down or badly damaged is beyond a routine check.
• Follow it up. Give each repair to a named person with a date, and look at that door first at the next check.

What to record

In blocks of flats over 11 metres in England, the record of steps taken to check flat entrance doors is a legal requirement, and it must include what you did to try to gain access where a resident did not allow it. The government's guidance suggests planning the checks with a checklist on which the outcome of each is recorded, on paper or electronically.

For workplaces, the Home Office guide says a suitable record of testing and maintenance should be kept, as a logbook or an electronic record. For each check, keep the door number and location, the date, who did the check, the result line by line, what was done about any fault and when the repair was completed. A fire door log sits alongside the other health and safety documents an inspector may ask to see, and fire doors are one line in a general workplace inspection.

Keeping it in SafetyPro360

The checklist above can be set up in SafetyPro360 as a checklist of your own, with each line as a question. The person doing the check runs it on a phone at the door. Each completed check is kept with its date, who did it and its score. SafetyPro360 does not schedule the check for you, so decide your intervals and keep to them.

Questions people ask