Fire Door Inspection: Who Can Inspect, What Gets Checked and What It Costs

What is a fire door inspection?

A fire door inspection is a methodical assessment of a complete fire door assembly — leaf, frame, seals, hardware, glazing and signage — to confirm it can still perform as it did when tested. Fire doors are engineered products: an FD30 door is designed to resist fire for 30 minutes, but only if every component is present, compatible and correctly fitted. Everyday wear, impact damage, repainting and DIY alterations all erode that performance, which is why inspection is a recurring duty rather than a one-off event.

The legal foundation in England and Wales is the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Article 17 requires the responsible person to keep fire-safety facilities — fire doors included — subject to a suitable system of maintenance and in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair. The Fire Safety Act 2021 put beyond doubt that flat entrance doors in multi-occupied residential buildings fall within the Order.

In practice there are three tiers of scrutiny. First, informal walk-round checks that any trained member of staff or resident can do. Second, the statutory Regulation 10 checks recorded by the responsible person. Third, a formal inspection or survey by a competent fire door inspector, producing a door-by-door report with defects, photographs and remedial recommendations.

How often should fire doors be inspected?

Only one set of intervals is fixed in law, and it applies to multi-occupied residential buildings in England over 11 m in height. Everywhere else, frequency is a risk-based decision that should be set out in the building's fire risk assessment — with busier doors checked more often.

Government guidance is explicit that the routine Regulation 10 checks are meant to be simple and basic — they do not require a specialist, and caretakers, managing agents or maintenance staff can carry them out. What matters is that the person doing them knows what to look for, that the results are recorded, and that defects are reported and fixed.

Who can inspect fire doors?

There is no licence for fire door inspection in UK law. The Fire Safety Order works on competence: the responsible person must ensure that whoever assesses or maintains fire doors has sufficient training, experience and knowledge. For routine checks, a trained member of staff is acceptable. For a formal survey of a whole building — especially where the results will support a fire risk assessment, a legal defence or a remediation programme — an independent, third-party-certificated inspector is the recognised benchmark.

FDIS-certificated inspectors

The Fire Door Inspection Scheme (FDIS), launched in 2012 and owned by the British Woodworking Federation, is accredited by UKAS to BS EN ISO/IEC 17024 — the international standard for certification of persons. Candidates study for the FDIS Diploma, pass an independent examination, and can then be assessed and certificated as fire door inspectors. FDIS maintains a public register of certificated inspectors, which is the most straightforward way for a duty holder to evidence that the person they appointed was competent.

NAFDI-registered inspectors

The National Association of Fire Door Inspectors (NAFDI) promotes third-party accredited fire door inspections nationwide. It recommends training routes, maintains a searchable directory and map of member inspectors, and sets membership criteria intended to help clients meet their statutory obligations.

• Routine checks — trained in-house staff, caretakers or managing agents (per government Regulation 10 guidance).
• Formal inspections and surveys — FDIS-certificated or NAFDI-registered inspectors, or inspectors working under an equivalent third-party scheme.
• Remedial work — installers certificated under schemes such as FIRAS or BM TRADA Q-Mark, so repairs do not undermine the doorset's certification.

Fire door inspection checklist: the 25 points a professional checks

FDIS data shows where doors go wrong: of the 2021 inspection failures, 77% involved excessive gaps between door and frame, 54% care and maintenance issues, 37% smoke-sealing problems and 31% improper installation. A thorough inspection therefore works around the whole assembly, not just the leaf. The 25 points below reflect the scope of a typical professional survey.

For flat entrance doors, inspectors also check that letterboxes are correctly rated and not jammed open, and that spy holes and numerals have not compromised the leaf. Every defect should be photographed and logged against a unique door reference so remediation can be tracked door by door.

How much does a fire door inspection cost?

There is no fixed price for fire door inspection, and figures vary with door count, access and reporting requirements. The market-typical estimates below are drawn from a UK fire door inspection directory's published cost guide; treat them as a starting point and obtain itemised quotes for your building.

The same guide notes that per-door rates fall as door counts rise, that London commands a premium of roughly 15-25%, that certificated inspectors may charge 10-20% more, and that remediation typically costs two to four times the inspection itself. Small jobs are usually priced against a minimum visit fee rather than per door, so a five-door HMO will cost far more per door than a 200-door block.

5 simple monthly fire door checks anyone can do

Between professional inspections, anyone responsible for a building — or living in one — can run this five-step check in under five minutes per door. It mirrors the simple checks government guidance expects under Regulation 10.

1. Look for the label. Check the top edge of the door for a certification label or coloured plug. If there is nothing, the door's rating cannot be verified — flag it.
2. Check the gaps. Gaps at the top and sides should be consistent and around 2-4 mm; you should not see daylight around the closed door. Note anything wider for a professional to measure.
3. Check the seals. Intumescent and smoke seals should be continuous, firmly attached and not painted over or torn.
4. Check the hinges. There should be at least three, with every screw present and tight, and no metal dust or oil around the knuckles.
5. Test the close. Open the door fully and let it go, then again from about 15 degrees. It should close and latch fully by itself each time — and never be wedged open.

Record what you find, even when everything passes. A dated log of simple checks is exactly the kind of evidence a responsible person needs to demonstrate a suitable system of maintenance under Article 17.

What happens after a failed fire door inspection?

A failed inspection is not a prosecution — it is a prioritised to-do list. The inspector's report should categorise each defect by severity, so the responsible person can sequence the response: immediate risks first (doors wedged open on escape routes, missing self-closers on flat entrance doors), then repairs, then longer-term replacement programmes.

• Repair where the doorset is fundamentally sound — replacing seals, adjusting closers, re-hanging on fire-rated hinges or re-setting gaps, using competent installers so certification is not invalidated.
• Replace where the assembly cannot be brought back to standard — warped or altered leaves, unverifiable doors with no certification evidence, or doors of the wrong rating for their location. Insist on third-party-certificated doorsets for replacements.
• Record everything — defects found, actions taken, dates and contractors. In higher-risk buildings under the Building Safety Act 2022, this evidence forms part of the golden thread of building information.
• Re-inspect after works — closing out each defect against its door reference, so the next inspection starts from a known baseline.

Where defects cannot be fixed immediately, interim measures — increased checks, resident communication, temporary management controls — should be agreed and documented through the fire risk assessment. Fire and rescue authorities can and do serve enforcement notices where fire doors are left in disrepair, and Article 17 gives them a clear statutory hook, so a documented, funded remediation plan is the strongest position a responsible person can be in.