Window Company (Contracts) updates fire door training

Timed to coincide with the 2023 implementation of the new Fire Safety Act in England and Wales and the fire safety (England) regulations introduced in response to the first report from the Grenfell Tower inquiry, 25 members of the fitting team at The Window Company (Contracts) have just received up to date FD30S fire door installation training.

The commercial window and door installer specialises in the social housing sector, so the workshop from its composite door supplier, Solidcor, was particularly useful in relation to fitting its entrance doors in flats and in common areas in multi-storey buildings where the rules on demonstrating compliance have changed.

During the workshop, the fitters were shown everything from checking deliveries, frame and fire door installation to door closer adjustment and completion of the installation records which are required under the new regs.

The training adds to the IFC (International Fire Consultants) accreditation that The Window Company (Contracts) already holds for installing fire doors and ensures that its team have specific understanding of how to fit the Solidcor FD30 BS476 Part 22 1987 approved fire door, which has been tested and certified on both sides.

Katie Thornton, director of compliance and administration at The Window Company (Contracts) commented: “This was a valuable update and refresher for all our teams, who are likely to be busier than ever this year carrying out fire door installations now that the recommendations on fire safety from the Grenfell Tower inquiry have finally come into force.

“We’re obviously delighted to see the recommendations implemented – particularly those relating to the requirement for quarterly checks on fire doors in common areas and annual checks on fire doors in flats over 11m high, but we firmly believe that fire doors should only be fitted by fully trained teams in the first place. We’ll continue our efforts to communicate that to all our clients in both the public and private sectors.”