THE door industry journal spring Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk Fire Doors, Safety & Security Why Chopping the Bottom off School Doors is a Bad Thing, Actually Richard Kowalski, an industry expert from door producer Stairways, explains why a proposal to cut the bottoms off classroom doors in Scottish schools to improve ventilation could endanger lives and property. When the Scottish Government proposed cutting the bottoms off thousands of classroom doors in schools to improve ventilation and combat Covid, it was met with disbelief from safety experts. In a letter to the Scottish parliament’s education committee in February 2022, Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville, suggested the undercutting measure as part of a wider programme of measures to improve airflow and reduce the spread of Covid in classrooms. But the fire risk presented was apparently missed, and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service was not consulted on the scheme. Fire door expert Richard Kowalski, Technical Manager for the door division at Stairways, which manufactures and delivers staircases and door solutions to national and regional housebuilders, building contractors, architects, designers and installers, says such a scheme could endanger lives. Richard explains: “All door fire certificates have a minimum tolerance gap for the bottom. If the gap is too large, in the event of a fire, the door drops, creating a gap across the top of the door which allows the fire to spread. “So, increasing the gaps would invalidate the fire certification and potentially endanger lives and property.” Taking into consideration smoke control, the undercutting plan is even more at odds
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