Our technical team has investigated the guidance documents for the Building Regulations, the British Standard Code of practice for fire door assemblies, The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order and the BWF- CERTIFIRE Scheme, and have found that while the use of installer schemes is considered to be good practice, none of the documents consider them to be a requirement.
The guidance given in the Approved Documents applies to some common building situations but there is no obligation to adopt any particular solution they contain, as there may be alternative ways of achieving compliance with the requirements of the Building Regulations. The Approved Documents recognise that third party accreditation of installers of fire protection products provides a means of ensuring that installations have been conducted by knowledgeable contractors to appropriate standards, thereby increasing the reliability of the anticipated performance in a fire. However, the Building Control Body can decide whether they accept the certification of the installation of products under such schemes as evidence of compliance with the relevant standard. For recommendations for the installation of fire doorsets, the Approved Documents refer to BS 8214:1990 which has been superseded by BS 8214:2008, code of practice for fire door assemblies.
The references to installer schemes, within this code of practice are in the form of informative notes. The first note refers to the installation of door frames and says that the Approved Documents recommend that the installation of fire-resisting products be covered by product conformity certification (such as the BWF-CERTIFIRE Scheme) or by independent registered installer schemes, where such schemes are available. A second note advises users of the code of practice to consider the desirability of employing members of a third-party accredited fire door installation schemes to install fire doors.
The code of practice, therefore, falls short of stating that installation schemes must be used. In support of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 the Department for Communities and Local Government publishes guides for use when assessing the adequacy of fire precautions in various types of public or multiple occupancy buildings. Section B2 of these guides covers the requirements for fire-resisting doors and states that the reliability and performance of correctly specified fire-resisting doors can be undermined by inadequate installation. It says that it is important that installers with the necessary level of skill and knowledge are used and that accreditation schemes for installers of fire-resisting doors are available. Again, there is no statement to say that the use of installer schemes is a requirement.
The BWF-CERTIFIRE Scheme publishes guidelines for the correct installation of fire door assemblies and doorsets in
Fact Card Number 1, which says that BWF-CERTIFIRE manufacturers provide specific and comprehensive installation instructions with every door which must be rigorously followed by the installer. Therefore, while BWF supports the FIRAS Scheme for the installation of passive fire protection products, the only requirement for the installation of BWF-CERTIFIRE certificated fire door assemblies and doorsets is that the installer follows the manufacturer's instructions.