The organisers of the inaugural Fire Door Safety Week last month have hailed the initiative a “huge success” after the campaign reached an estimated 6.5 million people.
The campaign was supported by the Fire Minister, Brandon Lewis, while a local radio campaign reached an estimated 2.7 million listeners across all English regions. The Twitter campaign meanwhile generated almost 2 million impressions, which in turn lead to over 1,600 views of a video which reveals the sorry state of hospital fire doors.
The campaign aimed to raise awareness about the importance of correct installation and maintenance of fire doors, and was organised by the British Woodworking Foundation (BWF) and BWF-Certifire Scheme. Fire Minister Lewis met with representatives of both organisations to discuss the importance of fire doors and later said:
I am pleased that the BWF is proactively working to raise awareness of an important area of fire safety through non-regulatory routes. We welcome all positive interventions that promote particular fire safety messages with relevant audiences to help reduce the devastating impact that fire can cause.
However, despite the successes of the week, BWF chief executive Iain Mcilwee emphasised that the challenge of improving fire door safety was in no way complete. He said in a statement on Tuesday:
A recent survey among fire risk assessors revealed that 80% of the escape routes they saw were obstructed, 65% of fire doors were wedged open and 85% had door closers disconnected.
With a challenge of this scale, one thing is certain — Fire Door Safety Week will return next year.
Check out our gallery of bad fire doors in high-rise housing blocks in Stoke-on-Trent.
Related posts:
- Video Guide to Fire Doors Released
- Hospital Fire Doors Weaknesses Exposed
- How Not to Install a Fire Door
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