Could a closed door be the most important safety control in your building?
Fire Door Safety Week takes place from 21-25 September 2026 and aims to raise awareness of the vital role fire doors play in protecting lives and property during a fire. The campaign exists because, year after year, inspectors and fire services continue to find the same avoidable defects.
Fire doors are one of the most important fire protection measures in any workplace. A correctly functioning fire door can hold back fire and smoke for a set period of time, buying occupants the minutes they need to escape and firefighters the time they need to respond. Yet they are often overlooked because they sit quietly in the background, day after day, without attracting attention.
Until they are needed.
The problem is that a fire door only works if it is correctly installed, maintained and used. Fire Door Safety Week exists because defects, damage and poor maintenance continue to be identified across many buildings. A fire door that has been altered, damaged or wedged open is no longer performing the job it was certified to do, whatever it looks like from the outside.
Quick Fire Door Challenge
How many of the following have you seen recently?
- Fire doors propped open
- Missing door closers
- Damaged seals
- Unreported damage
- Furniture restricting door closure
- Staff unaware of fire door purpose
- Glazing panels cracked or missing
If you have seen more than one, your fire safety arrangements could benefit from review, particularly if the same issues keep reappearing after being fixed.
What Would You Do?
Scenario
You notice a fire door wedged open with a bin. Nobody nearby seems concerned, and it takes a moment before you even register that this is a fire door at all. It has probably been like that for weeks.
Question
Would employees:
A) Assume somebody else will deal with it?
B) Report it immediately?
C) Understand the risk created?
If “A” is the most likely answer, there may be a culture issue rather than a fire door issue, and no amount of signage or maintenance will fix that on its own.
Myth vs Reality
Myth
“Fire doors are only important during inspections.”
Reality
Fire doors are designed to slow the spread of fire and smoke, protecting evacuation routes and helping save lives. They work every single day, not just when an assessor is walking the building, and a door that fails on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon is just as dangerous as one that fails during an inspection.
Kingfisher Insight
Many organisations invest heavily in fire extinguishers and evacuation procedures but rarely inspect their fire doors with the same frequency. Extinguishers get serviced annually and fire drills happen on a schedule, yet fire doors are often left unchecked between formal fire risk assessments.
The reality is that a poorly maintained fire door can undermine an entire fire strategy, no matter how well the rest of the building’s fire precautions have been planned.
5-Minute Workplace Check
“If a fire started today, are we confident every fire door in our building would perform as intended?”
If the honest answer is “not sure,” that uncertainty is worth resolving before Fire Door Safety Week ends rather than after an incident forces the question.
This week take five minutes to walk your building and check the following:
- Check fire doors close fully.
- Inspect for visible damage.
- Ensure no doors are wedged open.
- Remind employees to report defects.
- Review your fire risk assessment findings.
- Confirm door closers and hinges are all present and working.
How Kingfisher Can Help
Because fire doors only save lives if they are able to do their job, and Fire Door Safety Week is as good a moment as any to find out whether yours can.
Our consultants can carry out a range of practical checks tailored to your building, including:
- Fire risk assessment reviews
- Workplace inspections
- Fire safety audits
- Staff awareness training
- Compliance support
- Fire door surveys and defect logging