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Scottish Schools - COVID Ventilation and Fire Safety
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The Scottish Government have recently announced additional funding to local authorities to improve ventilation in schools to reduce the risk of COVID. There is of course the possibility that this money can be used to improve filtation on existing systems, install mechanical ventilation or make physical changes to class rooms - sounds fair enough.
It is however being mentioned that one simple measure could be "cutting the bottoms off classroom doors" and it's got me wondering about the fire safety implications. I'm well aware that the majority of classroom doors (especially in my authority and older schools) are not fire doors but what could the implications of this be - would such a move compromise fire safety in a building significantly in terms of fire/smoke spread should a fire occur?
I appreciate that any such change would have to be considered on basis of fire risk assessment in each building and that there is no one size fits all for every school but I'm looking for general responses to try to ascertain if this is a potential move that as parents we should be concerned about happening in our kids schools.
I only know basics about fire safety so thought I'd return here after a while away and seek advice from those more in the know.
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Rank: Forum user 
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As someone who carries out FRAs in schools for a Scottish Local Authority on a regular basis, I would be most interested to see what Scottish Fire & Rescue think of this. The Scottish Government seem to be in "The Thick of It" territory yet again...
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 1 user thanked Connor35037 for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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From the realms of glass slippers and chocolate tea-pots.... The purpose of a door is to permit access whilst also segregating the room - cutting the bottom off will allow noise, dirt, cold, odours to enter in just the same way as removing from its hinges which would be a more sensible route for re-instatement once the issue has passed. A lot of standard doors would loose integrity if the bottom were chopped off as they are a timber frame around a cardboard honeycomb with veneer facings. A more practical application would be to retrofit a louvered panel or just wedge it open whilst the room is occupied.
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2 users thanked Roundtuit for this useful post.
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Kate on 03/02/2022(UTC), Kate on 03/02/2022(UTC)
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Rank: Super forum user
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From the realms of glass slippers and chocolate tea-pots.... The purpose of a door is to permit access whilst also segregating the room - cutting the bottom off will allow noise, dirt, cold, odours to enter in just the same way as removing from its hinges which would be a more sensible route for re-instatement once the issue has passed. A lot of standard doors would loose integrity if the bottom were chopped off as they are a timber frame around a cardboard honeycomb with veneer facings. A more practical application would be to retrofit a louvered panel or just wedge it open whilst the room is occupied.
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2 users thanked Roundtuit for this useful post.
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Kate on 03/02/2022(UTC), Kate on 03/02/2022(UTC)
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Rank: Super forum user 
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2 users thanked Kate for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Obviously she is not a forum reader or she would have seen the debates about this whimsical concept that is "common sense"
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2 users thanked Roundtuit for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Obviously she is not a forum reader or she would have seen the debates about this whimsical concept that is "common sense"
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2 users thanked Roundtuit for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Putting aside the fire related issue for a moment, would this actually work or just make it cold in the classrooms. It seems you are just exchanging the air with that from the corridor, not fresh air from outside. Surly the correct thing to do would be install air exchange units with incorporated heat exchanger. This would then bring fresh air into the school from outside, not just circulate what is already there. This sounds like a case of making it look like you are doing something, but in reality, pointless. Smoke and mirrors, waste of time and effort. We have lived with Covid for 2 years now, we can manage longer while proper ventilation is put in place. Chris
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1 user thanked chris42 for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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The maximum gap at the bottom of a fire door is 8 to 10mm, if there is cold smoke protection the max gap is 3mm. (thickness of a pound coin). I don't know if classroom doors are FD but if they are the max gap will already be there, so cutting more from the bottom would breach the regs.
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Rank: Forum user
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Forgive me for being a bit dim here but if you wish to improve the ventilation in a classroom why wouldn't you simply crack open a window?
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3 users thanked thunderchild for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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The PM mentioned this at PMqs today, making a joke about it.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Whilst north of the border the Scottish Education Secretary:
claimed opposition parties had "wilfully misunderstood" plans to chop the bottom of classroom doors
described the plan as just one element in an "example scenario" and would only be introduced if other measures led to changes in air pressure or made doors harder to open
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Rank: Super forum user
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Whilst north of the border the Scottish Education Secretary:
claimed opposition parties had "wilfully misunderstood" plans to chop the bottom of classroom doors
described the plan as just one element in an "example scenario" and would only be introduced if other measures led to changes in air pressure or made doors harder to open
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Rank: Super forum user
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The idea is covered in this week's Private Eye which describes it as "loopy" and as well as fire safety points to many doors in schools in Scotland having asbestos in them.
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