Fire safety appointments and inspections

We have a wide range of fire safety information available on our website. This includes about fire doors, safely using electrics and seasonal advice. 

If you ever notice something doesn’t look right with fire safety devices like alarms or doors in your home, make sure you report this so we can fix it. 

If in doubt, get out. 

In the event of a fire, get to safety rather than trying to fight the fire. 

You may have signs known as fire action notices in communal areas of your home. Make sure you are familiar with the information on this. 

If you might need help to evacuate, please get in touch with us so that we can understand the support you might need. 

We’ll carry out any work needed to keep you safe. If we find anything else that needs to be done we’ll arrange for this to be done. 

We respect this is your home so will keep disruption to a minimum. 

You can change your appointment using the contact details on the letter or card you received about your inspection. If you do need to change your appointment, please give as much notice as possible so we can give your slot to someone else and find a more convenient time for you. 

We would usually say appointments can take between 60 to 90 minutes, depending on the home. 

Please make sure someone over 18 years old is home and can let us in tom complete the inspection. Where possible please keep children and pets away from areas that will need to be inspected. 

If we can’t get access to your home to carry out essential safety works then we may need to take action, which could lead to you being taken to court. 

We carry out Fire Risk Assessments to see what work or repairs are needed to keep you fire safe. If we spot anything during this assessment, by law we have to complete any actions.

As fire regulations or laws change over time, it may mean we have to change the way certain things are done. 

We are committed to making adjustments for our customers so the services we provide work for them. Please get in touch with us if you have requirements for how we deliver our services. 

If you want to provide feedback, compliments or complaints about the service you have received, you can visit our feedback webpage. 

Fire doors are an important fire safety tool, stopping fire and smoke spreading. We carry out regular checks to make sure they are working correctly. 

As part of the inspection, we will check: 

• If there are any gaps around the door frame.
• If seals and hinges are fitted correctly or damaged.
• The door shuts correctly.
• To see if there is any damage, or any alterations. 
   

Inspections are carried out every 3 months, and they will usually take around 20 minutes. 

If any issues are found, we’ll arrange for these to be repaired or replaced. 

It can take between 12 to 15 weeks for a new fire door to arrive, and it’ll take us about half a day to replace it. 

As fire regulations and laws can change quite regularly, this may mean fire doors previously installed in the last few years may need to be replaced. Through Fire Risk Assessments we review whether any updates are needed. 

Following investigation after the Grenfell tragedy, it has been found some doors made of a mixture of materials, known as composite, do not meet the legal requirements. If the door doesn’t have an up to date test certificate or is compliant, we need to replace it. 

UPVC doors are usually not safe as fire doors, and shouldn’t be installed in communal areas. 

If you have any mobility issues or have worries the fire door might be heavy to open, please get in touch with us. 

Contractors will visit buildings every three months to complete inspections, and will try to visit as many homes as possible. If any homes are not visited, then appointments will be arranged for those. 

We have a range of information on our website about fire doors. 

Homes and buildings have a range of fire defence equipment to detect, stop or prevent the spread of fire. These can also help you to get out. 

These could include smoke or fire detectors, sprinklers, emergency lighting or fire escape equipment. 

It will vary depending on how much equipment there is to check, so appointments can vary from 15 to 90 minutes. 

They will check the equipment and find if anything else needs to be repaired.