Survey shows gaps in office workers' knowledge of fire door safety

A new survey suggests office workers’ existing knowledge and understanding of fire door safety is severely lacking, as 57% of respondents said a hole where a lock had been removed would not affect a fire door’s performance.

CE Safety, the health and safety training consultancy who commissioned the survey, spoke to office workers across the UK. The results reveal worrying gaps in their understanding of basic fire safety, as 43% deemed cracked glass in a fire door acceptable.

Over a third of respondents (34%) did not know, or were unsure, about the correct position a fire door should be kept in when not in use. 25-34 year olds were the most likely age group to get this question wrong – 64% of them did not know a fire door should be closed when not in use. In fact, 20% even thought a door should be completely open when not in use.

Across the UK, over a third of respondents hadn’t been shown the fire exit route in their office. This number rose to 47% for office workers in London. CE Safety says walking staff through the building and showing them the complete exit route is much more effective than simply describing it, as it makes it much easier to remember.

The survey’s findings follow a 2021 study of 100,000 fire door inspections, which found 75% of fire doors did not meet the required standards. The most common reasons for doors failing inspection were gaps between the door and the frame (77% of fault doors) and care and maintenance issues (54%). The next most common issue was smoke seals, with 37% of fire doors proving inadequate in this area.

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CE Safety spokesperson Gary Ellis said:

“We were worried to see the amount of people who did not know important information about fire doors that could save lives.

“34% of the office workers who took part in our survey did not know that fire doors should be kept closed (unless a self-closing mechanism or door release unit has been installed).

“There should always be a designated person who is responsible for checking the fire doors in any building or place of work, and making sure they are all in working order. However, ideally, everyone should know how fire doors should be kept when not in use, as well as common problems that can arise with them.

“The more people are aware, the faster any issues will get reported, meaning that the door can be mended or replaced as soon as possible.

“We asked UK workers to tell us whether they had been shown the exit route out of their workplace that they would follow in case of fire or emergency,” he added. “Overall, 65% said they were aware of the exit route, which is frankly not enough. There’s a significant number of people who don’t have that knowledge, which would help them stay calm and make a safe, swift evacuation.

“We were surprised to see the level at which answers varied across the country – in Northern Ireland and Scotland, a much higher percentage of workers said they had been shown the route, at 91% and 78% respectively. In contrast, in London only about half of the survey’s respondents knew their exit route – only 53%.”