11 THE door industry journal summer 2025 Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk A regular comment column, brought to you by Bob Perry, CEO, Door and Hardware Federation I was going to write about Sustainability in this article but decided to ‘shelve’ that after watching Grenfell: Uncovered (Netflix 20/6/25)… There was not anything particularly new in this documentary but it was compelling viewing. Even eight years after the avoidable disaster, one is still left feeling numb seeing the level of incompetence and dishonesty, The programme concentrated on the cladding used on the building which was described as ‘a petticoat to prettify it in a rich borough’. Of course, Grenfell had many other failures which contributed to the death of 72 people. For example, containing fire/ smoke within a flat (compartmentation) is critical in tower blocks and is essential in a building that has a ‘stay put’ policy. Fire started the tragedy but it was smoke and toxic fumes that killed all of the people. And, essentially, the spread of choking black smoke was partly a result of non-compliant fire resisting doors being fitted to the flats and/or the doors not being properly maintained. The fire doors in Grenfell Tower were not fit for purpose. They failed to meet the minimum 30 minute fire standard in post-fire tests. Furthermore, they were not fitted with cold smoke seals, which are essential for preventing smoke leakage. This was not helped by the fact that many of the self-closing mechanisms were either broken or missing. This meant the doors were ineffective at preventing the spread of smoke and toxic gases which hindered escape efforts. History cannot be changed but let’s at least learn from history to prevent tragedies of this type happening in the future. The Government already knew about the possibility of a Grenfell type disaster following the investigation of the fire that killed 6 people in Lakanal House, Camberwell, London in 2009. It is impossible to eliminate all risks of failure but the risks can be reduced. In this respect, for many years, DHF has been campaigning, particularly in respect of fire doors, that they should be factory prepared complete doorsets, properly tested and third party certified. Of course, that is just the start of the journey. Following that, they should only be installed by competent people who have been properly trained and then maintained and periodically inspected by qualified fire door inspectors. Grenfell: Uncovered For more information, please visit www.dhfonline.org.uk Bob Perry, dhf CEO OPEN DOORS
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