Life Safety Doors Explained
Life Safety Doors are a term used to describe advanced smoke doors. These doors prevent smoke leakage and indeed, save lives.
Throughout the years, many customisations and advantages have become available to the world of fire safety. There was a time when fire exits didn’t have the easy push-release bars and even a time where smoke detectors weren’t mandatory.
Another key fire safety upgrade was an effective means of preventing smoke leakage. That’s where life safety doors come in.
What are Life Safety Doors?
Life Safety Doors are doors that fulfil the safety requirements found in the Australian Standards Building Code 1530.7. This code is passed by doors that can effectively prevent smoke leakage. Most Life Safety Doors will also pass the relevant fire resistance codes, AS1530.4 and AS/NZ1905.1. Life Safety Doors should be installed with a designated FRL (Fire-resistance-level) in mind, to ensure the door meets the legal safety standards required of the building.
How Are Life Safety Doors different to Smoke doors?
There’s a crucial difference between smoke doors and life safety doors. Life Safety Doors refer ONLY to the smoke doors that have been proven effective in preventing smoke leakage that typically protrudes through a doors’ edges. Life Safety Doors must have seals installed to block smoke from seeping through, while smoke doors may not have been tested to meet this criterion.
When you consider that an estimated 50-80% of fire related deaths are caused by smoke inhalation rather than the fire itself, the necessity of a door that prevents smoke from passing through is undeniable.
If you would like to get your fire doors upgraded or checked to meet this level of safety, we have certified installers ready to help.
Have a fire door related enquiry? We’re happy to help. Contact Fire Safe Doors at [email protected] or call (02) 9070 0732, and we’ll work through a plan for your needs.