England tells building owners how often to check fire doors. Ireland doesn't. That isn't a gap in the law. It moves the question from how often to can you show it.
What the law actually says
The Building Regulations stop at handover. TGD B says so in its own words: "The Building Regulations do not relate to the management of fire safety in buildings."
After handover the Fire Services Acts take over. Section 18 of the 1981 Act, as amended in 2003, puts a continuing duty on the person in control of a hospital, nursing home, apartment block or workplace. They must provide reasonable fire safety measures and make sure those measures are applied at all times.
A fire door that is wedged open, missing a smoke seal or no longer closing on its own is a measure that isn't being applied. No interval is written into the Act. The duty runs every day.
The England comparison everyone quotes
In England, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 require checks on communal fire doors every three months and on flat entrance doors every year, in residential buildings over 11 metres. That rule doesn't apply here.
Irish estates teams still end up in the same place. When a fire officer, an insurer or a HIQA inspector asks how a door is maintained, the answer is a record. An interval nobody wrote down protects nobody.
What "applied at all times" looks like on a corridor
Walk any busy hospital corridor a year after handover and the same faults turn up. The biggest is gaps around the door. Then damage from beds and trolleys, worn-out closers, and intumescent strips gone missing. None of it was there on the day the doors were signed off.
A fire door rarely goes wrong because of one big fault. It goes wrong through small ones that pile up, each cheap to fix if someone catches it.
The HSE knows this. Its 2026 Capital Plan puts fire safety at the top of its risk-mitigation spending, with fire door repair and recertification, compartmentation and fire stopping named across hospitals and community nursing units.
What a useful inspection record contains
A record that answers the question before it is asked has the same few things for every door:
- Which door. A reference that matches the drawing and a tag on the frame, so the next person finds the same door.
- What it is. The rating and classification from the door's label. TGD B (2024) Volume 1, Appendix B, says every fire door installed should carry a label giving the manufacturer, the product, a unique reference number and its fire resistance, smoke control or self-closing classification. Older doors may have none, and that is worth recording too.
- What was found. Closer, smoke and intumescent seals, gaps, hinges, glazing, signage, each stated plainly.
- The evidence. Photos taken at the door, not added from a phone gallery later.
- Who and when. The person who inspected it and the date, recorded as it happens.
- What happened next. Each defect raised, repaired and re-checked, with the original finding left in place.
The last point is the one most systems lose. A spreadsheet overwritten each year shows today's answer. It cannot show that a seal was missing in March and fitted in May.
Where DoorInspec+ fits
DoorInspec+ is built for this record. Each door carries an NFC or QR tag. The survey records what was found, with photos, offline if the corridor has no signal. The fix is picked at the door and arrives in the office priced from your own rates, ready to quote. The re-survey covers only the doors that need it.
Nothing is overwritten. Every change is kept and stated in words, with who made it and when. The issued report carries the contractor's name, not ours. Estates teams can see the same record through a client view, without waiting for a PDF.
It doesn't decide the outcome for a door. It records what the inspector found.
Common questions
How often should fire doors be checked?
In Ireland, no interval is written into law. The duty under the Fire Services Acts runs every day, so what counts is a record that shows the doors are being looked after. In England, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 require checks on communal fire doors every three months and on flat entrance doors every year, in residential buildings over 11 metres.
How often do fire doors need to be inspected in Ireland?
Irish law sets no fixed interval. Section 18 of the Fire Services Act 1981, as amended in 2003, puts a continuing duty on the person in control of the building to make sure fire safety measures are applied at all times. The England rule of three months and one year doesn't apply here.
Who is responsible for fire door checks?
In Ireland, the person in control of a hospital, nursing home, apartment block or workplace, under section 18 of the Fire Services Act 1981, as amended in 2003. They must provide reasonable fire safety measures and make sure those measures are applied at all times.
General information only, not legal advice. Check your own obligations with your fire safety adviser.