Compliance Tags

Fire doors are made of a fire-resistant core and are constructed with the use of metal plates at specific locations around the door for the fixing of hinges, locksets, and door closers. They are then lined with a PLY, MDF, or Steel Sheet and Edge Strips.

The plates are required to line up with the associated hardware on the door meaning there positioning in the door is integral to the fire door's performance.

It has been our experience that not all installers of fire doors are aware of this requirement. Doors are being installed in the incorrect orientation, meaning that hardware is not compliantly fixed and although the fire doors may present complaint margin and essential latching components they will not perform adequately in the event of a fire.

When Extreme Fire inspect and test Fire Doors, checks are made to ensure the correct installation of the door by both identifying a pinhole is in the top rail above the hinge and also by way of using an industrial magnet for the presence of fixing plates.

It is unfortunately common practice for fire contractors to charge clients to provide compliance tags to untagged door sets. This is an incorrect process under the installation standard for Fire Doors.

It is our policy that we tag fire door sets that we only are responsible for the installation. Clients can source the original installer/certifier to re-tag any fire door sets where possible. It is also common practice for the use of “opinion” tags or “letters of opinion” to be used in lieu of compliance tags. These options are not a compliant solution. If there was a tag when we took over your site and we have records of the tag then we would have evidence and would be able to provide a new tag otherwise we would not be able to supply a tag to state the door is compliant.

The purpose of the compliance tag is to retain certain details. To assume any of these details is to jeopardize the performance of the door set and potentially leave parties involved to be liable for damages in the event of a door set failure.

To satisfactorily ensure that a fire-resistant door set is capable of achieving its desired Fire Resistance Level, untagged fire doors should be replaced and new doors certified which is to include a fire door schedule of evidence of compliance.

Our experts are prepared to assist clients with carrying out the necessary inspections and analyses if they are interested in exploring the possibility of improving their facilities while maintaining reliable fire protection systems.

Our fire protection specialists can help you assess the risks at affected facilities and increase the confidence in your decisions regarding how best to manage your fire doors through the entire life cycle of the protection system or building.

From designing systems to retro-fits, ensuring compliance and effective fire control, and all the way through building business cases for installation and longterm maintenance, our services help you maximize capital use and investment, efforts, and reduce fire risk to your business.

Let us know your thoughts on this subject, as many maintenance companies do this very different and just install opinion tags when the tag was missing, which I have seen installed on a non-rated door which was a hollow-core door.