Grenfell Fire: Fire Door Failures, Risk Assessor Oversight, and the Need for Reform

The tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in June 2017 led to the deaths of 72 people and prompted one of the most significant public inquiries into fire safety failings in the UK’s history. While much attention has rightly been placed on the flammable cladding, the Inquiry’s findings also reveal deep and systemic failures in other critical areas of fire safety - especially fire doors and fire risk assessments.

Fire Door Failings: A Catalogue of Oversights

Fire Door Failings: A Catalogue of Oversights

Fire doors are a fundamental part of a building’s passive fire protection. At Grenfell Tower, both the communal fire doors and flat entrance doors were found to be inadequately maintained, poorly installed, or simply non-compliant.

Dr. Barbara Lane’s expert report highlighted how the responsible organisation, Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), failed to implement an effective fire door inspection and maintenance programme.

Critical issues included:

• Doors missing essential self-closing devices.

• Visual inspections only from lobbies, missing internal failures.

• Poor coordination between departments, resulting in unreported or unresolved issues.

• Faulty replacement doors installed with substandard components, many of which were later found to not meet required fire resistance standards.

Even more concerning was the documented removal of self-closing devices in some cases, an action that directly undermined fire safety and showed a troubling lack of training and awareness at the management level.

Fire Risk Assessments: Competence Under Scrutiny

The Inquiry also exposed significant failings in the fire risk assessment process. The appointed fire risk assessor, Mr. Stokes, did not methodically inspect individual doors and failed to identify or report known faults. As a result, key safety issues never made it into formal risk assessments or the KCTMO’s action plans.

These lapses had real consequences. Decisions on whether to replace certain high-risk doors were made on limited, ad-hoc observations, and entire groups of doors—particularly those belonging to leaseholders—were excluded from essential upgrades.

A Turning Point: Mandatory Accreditation for Fire Risk Assessors

In response to these systemic failings, the Inquiry’s final report made a landmark recommendation: the creation of a national, mandatory register of accredited fire risk assessors. This register ensures that only competent, trained professionals are entrusted with evaluating life-critical fire safety systems.

“We recommend that the government establish a system of mandatory accreditation to certify the competence of fire risk assessors…”— Grenfell Inquiry Report, Paragraph 113.41

Dean Bird: Fully Qualified, Accredited, and On the Register

We are proud to confirm that Dean Bird of London Fire Block Ltd has now completed all required training and is officially listed on the national register of accredited fire risk assessors. Dean has not only met the new competency standards but has long championed the importance of thorough, methodical, and compliant fire safety assessments.

With lessons from Grenfell now enshrined in regulatory reform, housing providers, property managers, and landlords must ensure they are working with assessors who meet these higher standards of professionalism and accountability.

At London Fire Block, we help clients navigate complex safety regulations, conduct robust and compliant risk assessments, and ensure fire doors and other key systems are maintained in line with legal and industry expectations.

The Way Forward

The Grenfell tragedy must mark a turning point in how we approach fire safety. The failures around fire doors and risk assessments were not isolated mistakes, they were systemic. But with new frameworks in place and a renewed focus on competence and compliance, we have an opportunity to raise standards across the board.

If you are responsible for residential or commercial buildings, now is the time to act. Ensure your fire risk assessments are in the hands of a registered, qualified professional.

Contact Dean Bird at London Fire Block today to discuss your fire safety needs with confidence.