By Brad Keyes / Special to Healthcare Facilities Today

Q: We used our recently updated Life Safety drawings to have our fire doors inspected. The inspector cited us for aluminum astragals on 13 doors. His report stated that they should be changed to steel. My boss asked me to confirm that this is fact. What are your thoughts?

A: The inspector may know something. All hardware installed on fire-rated door assemblies must be listed for use on fire-rated door assemblies, and this includes astragals. Do you have the specification sheets for the astragals that you installed? If not, can you obtain them?

Look on the specification sheets for anything that says the astragals are listed by an independent testing laboratory (UL, Intertek, ETL, etc.) for use on fire-rated door assemblies. If you find that they are listed for use on fire-rated door assemblies, then you are good to go. Photo-copy that information and send it to the inspector for his/her review.

If the specification sheets do not say the astragals are listed for use on fire-rated door assemblies, then the inspector is correct and you would have to remove them. The issue is not whether they are made with steel or aluminum, but whether they are listed for use on fire-rated door assemblies. Perhaps the inspector believes that aluminum astragals are not listed?   

Brad Keyes, CHSP, is the owner of KEYES Life Safety Compliance, and his expertise is in the management of the Life Safety Program, including the Environment of Care and Emergency Management programs.