Article 14 is England's most-cited fire breach. Here's the Irish equivalent, and how to record it

The Fire Safety Order covers England and Wales. In England, its duty to keep emergency routes and exits clear and usable (Article 14) is the breach fire inspectors cite most often, and it was cited more last year than the year before. Ireland has no single Article 14. The same duties are spread across the Fire Services Acts, the 2007 workplace regulations and TGD B. They come down to the same thing: exits kept clear, doors that open easily in the direction of escape, signs, and lighting. On site, the way to show you met them is a dated, photographed record of each exit door and route.

What Article 14 says, and why it tops the list

Article 14 of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 says the responsible person "must ensure that routes to emergency exits from premises and the exits themselves are kept clear at all times." Where necessary, it then lists what those routes and exits need: they lead as directly as possible to a place of safety, there are enough of them for the people in the building, emergency doors open in the direction of escape, sliding or revolving doors aren't used as emergency exits, emergency doors aren't locked so they can't be easily and immediately opened, routes and exits are signed, and emergency lighting is provided where it's needed.

In the year to March 2026, fire and rescue authorities in England carried out 50,195 fire safety audits, and 40% of them did not have a satisfactory outcome recorded. The government's own figures say breaches of Article 14 "were the most frequently cited reason for non-compliance", and that they were 9.3% higher than the previous year. It's not new either: across 2009 to 2018, Article 14 drew more convictions than any other Article of the Order. It's easy to see why. A locked final exit or a corridor full of stock is visible on the day of the inspection, and nobody can argue about it.

The Irish equivalent

Ireland doesn't publish the same breakdown, as far as we could find. But the duties are here, in three places.

The workplace rule, almost line for line. Regulation 12 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007, "Emergency routes and exits", puts the duty on the employer. It covers routes and exits kept clear and leading as directly as possible to open air or a safe area, enough exits for the maximum number of people, "emergency exit doors open outwards", no sliding or revolving doors as emergency exits, doors "not so locked or fastened that they cannot be easily and immediately opened", signs, and emergency lighting. Read side by side with Article 14, it's very close.

The duty on whoever controls the building. Section 18(2) of the Fire Services Act 1981, as substituted in 2003, makes it the duty of every person having control over premises it applies to (now including any workplace) to "take all reasonable measures to guard against the outbreak of fire", provide reasonable fire safety measures and procedures, "ensure that the fire safety measures and procedures ... are applied at all times", and ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the safety of people on the premises if a fire breaks out. Under section 20, a fire authority can serve a fire safety notice requiring "the provision and maintenance of exit signs, emergency lighting" and arrangements for "securing that the means of escape can be safely and effectively used at all material times."

How the doors should be built and hung. For new work, Building Regulations requirement B1 asks for "adequate means of escape in case of fire from the building to a place of safety outside the building, capable of being safely and effectively used." TGD B (2024) Volume 1, para 1.9.3, sets out how doors on escape routes meet that: "The time taken to negotiate a closed door can be critical in an escape situation." They should be "readily openable without delay", with no lock, latch or bolt unless it's an I.S. EN 179 device, I.S. EN 1125 panic hardware, or a simple fastening that is easy to operate from the escape side "without a key". Doors on escape routes "should be hung so that they open in the direction of escape", and must be in the cases listed (for example, where more than 60 people are expected to use them, or more than 20 in assembly, industrial and storage buildings). They should open to not less than 90°, and electrically powered locks should release on the fire alarm, on loss of power, and at a manual release unit by the door. Para 1.9.12 requires signs to escape routes in all buildings it applies to, and para 1.9.8 sets out emergency escape lighting.

So in Ireland an exit door can fall short on any of three counts: it was built wrong, it's been allowed to drift, or nobody can show it was checked.

Where exits go wrong

The faults behind Article 14 breaches in England are the same ones you walk past here:

• Fire doors on the route wedged open
• Final exits chained, bolted or locked "for security"
• Corridors and stairs used for storage, or materials left on the route during works
• Signs missing, covered over or pointing the wrong way
• Maglocks and access control that nobody has checked release on the alarm
• Panic bars stiff, damaged or swapped for a key lock

"On a live job the exit that gets blocked is rarely the main one. It's the side door nearest the skip, or the one with a pallet of board left against it overnight."

"The door that's wedged open is usually a fire door on the route, because it's the one people find heavy."

How to record it

Article 14 cases are won and lost on what was there on the day. The same goes for an Irish fire safety notice, or a client asking what you checked before handover. For each exit door and the route to it, record:

1. Location. Which exit or route, pinned to the drawing.
2. Route clear. A photo of the route in both directions, with the date on it.
3. Direction of opening. Whether the door opens in the direction of escape, and whether it needs to.
4. Fastening. What's fitted (EN 179 lever, EN 1125 push bar, simple thumb-turn, maglock), and that it opens from the escape side without a key.
5. Electric locks. Whether release on alarm and at the release unit was tested, by whom, and when. If it wasn't your test, note whose record it is.
6. Swing and width. Opens to at least 90°, nothing in the swing, corridor width not reduced.
7. Fire door function. Closes from any angle and latches; no wedges; signs in place.
8. Signs and lighting. Exit signs present and visible; emergency light fittings present along the route. The test records belong to the electrical contractor; note where they are.
9. Faults found. What's wrong, with a photo, and who it's been reported to.
10. Who and when. The person who checked it, and the date. When it's fixed, the after photo and the date.

The Department's 2023 guide for building owners adds: "Particular attention should be paid to external doors which are not regularly used, as weather conditions can affect the door and frame relationship" (section 6.10).

The record shows what your crew found. It doesn't decide whether the building meets the rules; that's for the person in control and their fire safety adviser.

Where DoorInspec+ fits

This is the record DoorInspec+ was built to keep. Crews survey each door on the route on their phone, offline, pinned to the drawing, with photos taken in the record rather than from a camera roll and faults picked on the survey answer. Submitted surveys are frozen, every change shows in a plain-English audit trail with who and when, and remedial work goes through defects and resurvey, so the before and after sit on the same door. Reports go out under your name and letterhead, and estates teams can be given a live view of the record. The app records what your crew found; it never decides whether a door is acceptable.

This is general information, not legal advice. Check the Fire Safety Certificate, your fire safety risk assessment and your fire safety adviser's guidance for your own building.