Fire doors prevent the spread of fire and smoke through a building. They are specially designed to withstand fire for a certain amount of time (minimum 30 minutes) to protect the safety of building occupants and provide a safe route to get out of the building.

All fire doors should be closed in the event of a fire. This is usually achieved with a self-closing device or free-swing device. Fire doors are a vital part of a building’s fire strategy, and they can only do their job if they are closed. A wedged or propped open fire door prevents a fire door from closing, and therefore renders the fire door useless.

The safety of occupants cannot be guaranteed if a fire door is wedged open. And legally, if a building’s responsible person is judged to be putting someone’s life at risk by wedging fire doors open, they could suffer penalties.