Fire Door Sign

All public buildings are required to have fire doors. Most fire doors can resist a fire for over 30 minutes so are an essential part of your building and staffs fire safety. A fire door can only resist a fire if it is used properly and kept shut (unless an automatic fire door retainer such as dorguard is used which automaticlly shuts a fire door upon hearing the fire alarm. All fire resisting doors should be in a good state of repair and be able to fully close into their frames, fire doors should not be kept open with a door wedge or a fire extinguisher. In order to remind building occupiers that the fire door must always be closed, a fire door sign must be displayed on each side of each fire door. A fire door sign is blue with a white background and white writing. This is the colour of mandatory signs. Fire door signs and other fire related fire safety signs must comply with British Standard 5499. There are many slightly different types of fire door sign so read them carefully before you buy. The most common fire door sign states ‘Fire door keep shut’ or ‘Fire door keep closed’.

One sign should be displayed on each side of self closing fire doors at eye level. For a fire door that needs to be locked, for example, a cleaners cupboard, the fire door sign should be exhibited on the outside door face at eye level, this type of fire door should have a sign which states ‘keep locked shut’. As previously mentioned, some fire doors need to be kept open and have a legal automatic closing device. The fire door sign which should be used on this type of fire door should state; ‘Automatic fire door keep clear’. Again, this fire door sign should be positioned at average eye level and should be sited on the obvious side of the fire door. Automatic release mechanisms should comply with British Standard 5839: Part 3.