Fire Door Drop Testing

Fire Door Drop Testing

Fire door drop tests are a mandatory safety requirement in Canada

An annual fire door test and inspection is required by Canadian law* to help ensure your facility is prepared in case of a fire emergency.

Protect your personnel and your building with a comprehensive Wellington Dock & Door fire door test and inspection.

* Source: NFPA 80, Fire Doors and Other Opening Protective, Copyright © 2007, National Fire Protection Association.

Drop Testing & Inspection

General Information

Fire doors exist to keep guests in commercial structures safe from danger. To ensure every commercial building lives up to the same set of standards, the National Fire Protection Association has outlined what are known as NFPA-80 requirements, which provide a wide range of achievable stipulations.

These requirements are important to protect your building and the people who visit it. To maintain compliance with NFPA-80 requirements, you must have your fire doors inspected and drop tested at least once a year. Additionally, you must have evidence that you’ve undertaken this inspection and test.

NFPA-80 Requirements

Fire door drop test requirements are pretty simple. Basically, they say that your doors must be inspected at least once a year by a professional who knows they are doing. Your doors must be fully operational, and you must document this in a way that captures the doors’ test history.

Before testing, a visual inspection will check for: open holes or breaks in the surface of your door, incorrectly installed components like slats and assemblies, improper clearance, blocked drop release arms, missing smoke detectors and more.

The Actual Drop Test

The drop test includes two steps. A first test checks to make sure your fire doors operate as they should and are providing full closure. A second test checks to make sure the automatic-closing devices resets properly. Any failure to pass this test needs to be immediately remedied through repairs.

After the repairs are made, the door may be tested again. If the door again fails to pass the drop test, replacement is then an option.

Get Support From Wellington Dock & Door

There’s nothing more frustrating than failing a fire door drop test. You’re trying to run an organization, and you have a lot to worry about. Your fire doors should not be something that take up a lot of time or cause a lot of concern. We can help take that stress off your plate and free you up to focus on the things that matter most.

There are two ways we can be of service. First, you can get a Wellington Dock & Door to do an inspection to ensure your fire doors are working properly and that they will pass all portions of the drop test. This proactive approach is always helpful because it keeps you out of any sort of emergency situation and rush to have repairs made. Consider choosing a quality inspection of your fire doors in tandem with regular maintenance for any other overhead doors on your property.

The second option is to call on Wellington Dock & Door to make repairs after a failed drop test. We know you can’t always anticipate an issue like a failed drop test, which is why we move quickly to deliver the urgent repairs needed to get you back in compliance. When you call, we answer — and we work just as quickly as possible to get your fire doors back into full function.