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My DOORDATA
 If you've made
your way to our Web site, inevitably you've already
heard about the new or pending
building code changes
related to the annual fire door inspection requirements for
your facility.
The requirement to inspect fire doors
and maintain them in good working order isn't a new
requirement at all; it has been a part of NFPA 80
recommended practices for years. The 2007 edition of
NFPA 80: Standard for Fire Doors and Other Protectives,
however, actually makes this mandatory and no longer
merely a recommendation. This most recent change goes on
to require that building owners maintain a list of all
fire doors and keep subsequent inspection and test
reports on file for review by the Authorities Having
Jurisdiction (AHJs). Furthermore, the operational and
visual inspections of your fire doors must be conducted
by subject experts, or those individuals with specific
knowledge and understanding of all components involved.
 This change was
made to the standard and your building code to ensure a
more reliable building fire suppression system as
designed by the architect and life safety engineers.
Fire doors are a very unique part of a building and
offer both passive and active fire suppression when
installed and maintained in accordance with their
labeling procedures. When they are not installed or
maintained properly, they can adversely affect the
reason they were installed in the first place.
Options are available for in-house
testing, inspection, and reporting as long as you
maintain a staff of professionals who understand every
aspect of your fire doors and their effect on the
ratings of the wall and building in which they are
installed. Your personnel is still required to maintain
the list of fire openings, along with the test and
inspection reports, and a complete  maintenance
record for every fire door. Over a period of time, as
determined by your AHJ and with a proven track record of
compliant fire doors, you may be granted an extension to
your annual report deadline. These are generally granted
in six-month intervals. Conversely, buildings with
repeated fire door violations may be required to have
inspections more frequently than every year.
The Door and Hardware Institute (DHI),
along with Intertek (Warnock Hersey), has created a
credentialing program for potential fire door
inspectors. The education curriculum conducted by DHI
requires multiple prerequisite courses that focus
primarily on codes and standards, installation
practices, troubleshooting, and fire door components and
testing procedures. This Fire Door Assembly Inspection
(FDAI) course is a rigorous four-day class that will
test participants on everything from general building
design and fire suppression, fire door product
knowledge, the newest NFPA 80 and 101 standards and
codes, to a strict procedure for testing and inspecting
fire doors and creating subsequent reports for the
building owner to keep on file for the AHJ. Only after
DHI prerequisites and FDAI courses have been
successfully completed and tests have been passed, can
an inspector submit his or her application to Intertek
for its Certified Fire Door Inspector license. This
license is renewable and requires ongoing education and
testing to keep up with the specific, ever-changing
standards and codes that are adopted in your area.
DOORDATA
Solutions, Inc., (DDS), offers a suite of
field-inspection software and hardware tools that aid
fire door inspectors. Our mobile data collecting
solutions use the most up-to-date computer and software
technology to minimize the time required in the field to
conduct these inspections. Our technology solutions
increase the accuracy of the inspections by creating a
unique database of your building's openings as
inspections are taking place in real-time. That data is
then retrievable in multiple formats and mediums,
including the required "fire door inspection report" you
must keep onsite for review by your AHJ.
DOORDATA also provides you with both tools and
guidance to help you identify and record every fire door
at your facility in anticipation of upcoming
inspections.
We recommend that you consult with a
certified fire door inspector and an inspection company
in your area to find out what services they offer. Our
Charter Members meet all of these requirements and more.
By simply clicking on "Search
for Fire Door Inspectors," you will be directed to a
searchable database of inspectors who have requested to
be part of our list.
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