Fire Door and Fire Compartmentation Surveys - What Are They and Why Do You Need Them?

Fire Compartmentation/Passive Fire Protection Surveys

A Fire Compartmentation (sometimes known as Passive Fire Protection) Survey is detailed inspection to assess a building's ability to restrict the spread of fire and smoke by dividing the structure into separate, fire-resistant zones. The survey examines the integrity of walls, floors, ceilings, fire doors, and penetrations for services to identify any breaches or weaknesses in the building's passive fire protection system. The goal is to ensure occupants have enough time to evacuate and to contain a blaze, and it often follows a fire risk assessment that suggests further investigation.

Handsam's Fire Compartmentation Survey service sees an experienced, accredited assessor visit your site in order to assess a range of aspects of each building's veracity. These include, overall compartmentation provision and construction materials, walls, floors, ceilings and voids, cavity barriers, penetrating services, ducts, fire dampers, fire stopping and fire-stopping materials and fire door assemblies.

Book a Survey

If you would like a quotation for a fire door and/or fire compartmentation survey, or across your academy trust, please contact Handsam's client support team via info@handsam.co.uk.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Fire Door Surveys

By law, all schools and academies must be fitted with compliant fire doors. A fire door survey delivers a detailed inspection of a building's fire doors to ensure they meet safety regulations are in good working order. These surveys are crucial for identifying any defects that could hinder the door's ability to contain fire and smoke, potentially saving lives and minimizing damage during a fire. A full fire door survey often follows a fire risk assessment that suggests further investigation.

Handsam's fire door survey service sees an experienced, accredited assessor visit your site in order to assess every door and doorset for its compliance with BS 476 Fire tests for building materials and structures, BS EN 1634 focused on fire resistance and smoke control testing for doors, shutters, and openable windows, BS 8214, the code of practice for fire door assemblies, BS 8214:2016 (Timber-based fire door assemblies – Code of practice), the Government guidance about completing a fire safety risk assessment in Educational Premises, Building Bulletin 100 (BB100) the further government guidance ‘Fire Safety in New and Existing Schools, and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

The assessor will review the overall provision and siting of fire doors, as well as the specifics of each installation, checking it for aspects such as construction, frame, hinges, hanging and gaps, intumescent strips, vision panels, air vents and also signage.

The results of the survey are then provided in a PDF and are also uploaded to the Handsam fire module (see example image), with actions being able to be signed off with supporting evidence so progress can be tracked.