What to think about when choosing Fire Doors for offices
Many of us work in offices, and most of the time when we’re there we probably just sit at our desks and get on with our jobs. It’s fair to day that we won’t think about the office Fire Doors much – if at all! And yet, quite apart from letting us in and out, they are an important part of the environment we work in.
Let’s consider why.
Soundproofing
While the need for acoustic control won’t usually be as demanding as in a recording studio, for example, a level of soundproofing will still be helpful.
There will be some rooms however (e.g. boardrooms and interview rooms, or rooms occupied by Human Resources) where private/personal/sensitive conversations must be kept confidential, so the soundproofing should be absolute.
Of course it will generally aid productivity if distracting sounds and background noise is kept to a minimum.
Fire safety
As always, this is a “biggie”. Care must be taken to ensure that all Fire Doors & doors on fire escape routes comply with all of the regulations, are properly maintained, clearly labelled, and fulfil their primary emergency functions of resisting the spread of fire and smoke, allowing for rapid and safe evacuation, and facilitating the entry of the emergency services if required.
Finger safety
We’ve looked at this extensively in the past. The innovative Safehinge design ensures that fingers and hands cannot get trapped in a closing door.
Security
There may be a need for some method of access control for fire doors, depending of course on the type of office and the nature of the business.
This may be to deter or prevent unwanted intruders from the outside, or simply be to restrict access i.e. only authorised people can enter.
Space
There may be a need for some method of access control for some doors, depending of course on the type of office and the nature of the business.
This may be to deter or prevent unwanted intruders from the outside, or simply be to restrict access i.e. only authorised people can enter.
Appearance
This is another factor that’s easy to overlook given all the other things to think about. We all want our offices to be high productivity environments, so we shouldn’t ignore aesthetic considerations of how the look and feel of the office contributes to a positive working atmosphere.
