Building Owners and Fire Door Inspectors see the real benefit in using FireDNA

FireDNA is cloud-based Software and a Mobile App that has been developed for everyone involved in Passive Fire Product Manufacture, Installation, Inspection, Management and Maintenance. As well as for those that live and work within environments where passive fire products are installed, and have a crucial role to play in fire safety and prevention.

FireDNA software catalogues Manufacturers product data, digitally shares it with Contractors and Installers, who in turn add their installation data, passing that onto Building Owners, Facilities Management Teams and Tenant Management Organisations.

That data can then be used by Building Control, Maintenance Teams, Fire Inspectors and viewed by Tenants and Residents alike, with a simple swipe of a smartphone or mobile device.

Building Owners and/or the ‘Responsible Persons’

Our software enables Building Owners, FM’s and TMO’s to save considerable time and money on their compliance reporting. They are able to organise quarterly and annual inspections and have the results immediately accessible to digitally share with interested third parties and stakeholders.

The FireDNA Software and Mobile App has recently been deployed by asset management firm BAML* to inspect and monitor 25,000 Fire Doors across 10 of its large London developments including Embassy Gardens in Nine Elms, Wardian London’s iconic two towers in Canary Wharf, Royal Wharf in the Royal Docks area and the Brentford town centre regeneration project adjacent to the River Brent.

With the new Regulation 10 having come into force on the 23rd January, owners of buildings over 11 metres are required to carry out quarterly checks and annual inspections on all fire doors. Following a demonstration of our software, BAML immediately saw the benefits FireDNA delivers, not only through the time and cost savings, but also in the ease of use and accessibility of the data.

Tony Millen, FireDNA’s Chief Product Architect and Operations Director, said: “We are working with some of the largest property development & management companies in Europe, who have tens of thousands of fire door assets to maintain and monitor. Clearly the reason these guys are the biggest, is because they are the forward thinkers. They are the ‘early adopters’ ahead of the curve, utilising our software to make sure their Fire Doors, Doorsets and Fire Screens are digitally logged, compliant and the data accessible, ahead of the legislative changes that now prevail.”

(*BAML is a property management organisation providing customer-focused services to residents in more than 11,000 homes across London. This includes managing the planned maintenance, capital expenditure programmes and financial accounting and onsite services.)

For Building Owners, Facilities Managers and Tenant Management Organisations our Asset Management and O&M Manual features allow you to ‘digitally comply’ with the new Regulation 10 and BS 8644-1 with ease.

Our software features enable you to:
• Create or take ownership of compliant records that support the O&M Manual

• Oversee all changes making sure they are digitally logged so the full product lifecycle is preserved and protected

• Assign system users and set permissions (in-house administrators / maintenance teams)

• Share buildings, floors and products with external suppliers and Fire-DNA Data Partners for ongoing maintenance and remedial works

• Create and share work schedules for ongoing maintenance and inspections

• Share your buildings compliance status with other interested third-parties (Insurers, Building Control, Fire Services etc.)

Which delivers numerous benefits including:
• 24/7 accessibility, worldwide, on mobile, tablet and desktop

• Single or multiple building locations, with up-to-the-minute ‘consistently formatted’ data in a centralised repository

• Totally secure, hosted on Microsoft Azure which is a sustainable ‘carbon neutral’ cloud infrastructure

• Time and cost savings, due to our fully paperless recording, auditing and reporting functions

• Reduced risk and liability, our system can help give greater protection, can reduce liability and helps with compliance and insurance evaluations

Fire Door Inspectors
For qualified Inspectors FireDNA has shown it can half the time in carrying out surveys and inspections of Fire Doors and Doorsets compared with their existing methods. In addition, it also negates the need for time intensive paperwork and has shown to save significant time (up to 70%) in creating inspection reports and remedial costing documentation.

On a recent project undertaken on behalf of Mitie for the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service our software was used. The project included inspection and reporting on 9422 fire doors, across 357 sites, within 547 buildings. As a result, FireDNA was instrumental in bringing the project in on time and within budget.

The FireDNA Alliance Network Data Partner involved in the project, Stevie Neilson, commented: “In our view, anyone involved in fire inspections, installations, planned preventative maintenance and asset recording of passive fire products, such as fire doors, doorsets and fire screens should be using the FireDNA system. For duty holders such as building owners, facility managers, landlords and building safety surveyors to make sure the assets they are responsible for are safe and compliant and the data unambiguous and accessible by all that need it, including residents.

We believe FireDNA is the best system on the market and anyone who uses it will appreciate not only the time and money savings but importantly how this centralised system improves work standards across the full lifecycle of passive fire products”.

You can read the full case study here: www.fire-dna.com/case-studies/scottish-fire-rescue-service-fire-door-inspections-for-mitie/

Once set-up FireDNA records contain critical product information and data vital for Fire Inspectors to be able to evaluate and assess what they are inspecting. This includes immediate access to the required third party certification and primary test evidence, which is often not available at the point of need.

The 2021 survey by FDIS found that nearly 1/3rd of fire door installations did not meet standards and almost 50% lacked 3rd party certification evidence. Therefore, requiring additional time and effort on the inspectors’ part to track down the certification / standards the product had been manufactured to, or in the worse-case scenario having to fallback to a nominal door inspection under BS 8214.

Our App also allows inspectors on-site to assess if the physical product still mirrors the digital record, and if any changes or alterations have been made to the initial installation. In addition, if any damage or wear issues have arisen that will affect the performance, structural integrity, or ‘moving part’ componentry that could compromise any fire resistance capabilities. You’ll be able to:

• Check the live status of the product against the original manufacturer’s specifications, guidance and third-party test evidence

• Scan each products QR Code or NFC Tag to instantly see the previous inspection status

• Confirm that the product was installed correctly and if or when any changes have been made to the original product or componentry

• Pass or fail the product based on the latest inspection, and notify the Building Owner, FM or TMO of why the product has failed using our reporting functions

To find out more about how FireDNA can assist you, or for more information about our products and services log onto: www.fire-dna.com or call our team on 01403 597590.