SPECIFYING FIRE-RATED GLAZING IN HEALTHCARE
Steve Goodburn, Business Development Director at Pyroguard, a global manufacturer of fire safety glass, looks at the key considerations when specifying fire-rated glazing for doors in hospitals and healthcare environments.
“Healthcare environments present some of the most demanding requirements for fire safety. Hospitals often have complicated layouts and vulnerable patients who may be bed-bound and unable to self-evacuate. This places enormous weight on one design element that can be overlooked until something goes wrong – compartmentation. It is in creating effective compartmentation that fire-rated glazing needs to be considered as a critical part of a building’s passive fire protection strategy.
More than glass
Glazing can provide significant practical and aesthetic benefits within healthcare environments. Vision panels can improve visibility through doors, while larger areas of glazing can introduce natural light and create an open environment. Fire-rated glazing sits silently in the background to contain fire and smoke long enough for safe evacuation should the worse ever happen. However, glazing in fire doors creates additional consideration as it must be capable of delivering the required fire performance as part of a complete system.
Fire doors support compartmentation strategies and are essential in healthcare buildings as they have a “stay-put” or phased evacuation policy, due to the fact that many patients simply cannot be moved quickly. As a result, buildings are divided into a series of fire-safe zones to protect patients who cannot be evacuated. Achieving this depends on correct specification of fire safety glass systems, from E-rated glass (protecting against flame and smoke) through to EI-rated glass, which adds insulation against radiant heat. When fire safety glass is incorrectly specified the consequences can be life threatening.
Design details that matter
Beyond the glass itself, the way it is detailed can make a meaningful difference to both function and feel. Flush beading, for example, removes the traditional protruding timber or metal bead around glazing, creating a surface that is easier to clean. Some door designs go a step further by incorporating secondary glazing, allowing the glass to sit flush with the face of the door. In this case, the fire-rated pane is often positioned as the central pane within a triple-glazed unit. This creates a single flush surface that is easier to clean difficult to access areas where dirt and dust can accumulate.
This offers significant advantages in healthcare environments, where infection control and ease of cleaning are crucial. By reducing the protruding edges associated with conventional glazing, flush beading combines the practical demands of fire safety with the requirements of maintaining hygiene.
Achieving this flush glazing design can present additional challenges during fire testing, as traditional glazing beads play a crucial role in protecting glazing during a fire. Flush beadings change the way the glass responds to heat, meaning the complete door and glazing system must be tested to demonstrate it can maintain the required fire performance. Pyroguard Advance addresses this challenge and has been successfully fire tested for use with flush beadings.
Another design consideration is the move away from Georgian wired glass, which had previously been a preferred choice for glazing in fire-rated doors and like for like refurbishments. Its distinctive appearance can still be found in many older healthcare buildings, but advances in fire safety technology means specifiers now have better options.
Modern cuttable fire safety glass, such as Pyroguard Advance, offers improved fire performance without the traditional look of embedded wire, giving specifiers a more contemporary product with better performance and aesthetics that can still be processed with ease on site.
For healthcare managers or estates teams weighing up refurbishment options, this matters as it means that fire-rated glazing no longer has to look like traditional fire-rated glazing. It can provide a more appealing residential aesthetic that so many modern healthcare environments are now aiming for, while still meeting rigorous fire safety standards.
Fire safety in healthcare environments
Fire safety glazing has come a long way over the decades. With advanced technology, there is more design freedom to balance safety with aesthetics. From high clarity glass to flush beading options, modern glazing solutions can support the practical demands of healthcare environments where ease of cleaning, hygiene, fire safety and contemporary aesthetics and wellbeing are essential. The crucial consideration for the healthcare sector is making sure fire safety glass in fire doors is specified correctly, in line with the building’s fire strategy and as a complete certified system.”
Find out more about Pyroguard Advance and flush beading for fire-rated doors: https://www.pyroguard.eu/fire-rated-doors/
