Every September, Fire Door Safety Week reminds us of the most important truths in building safety: fire travels fast. Student accommodations are at the heart of university life as it’s where thousands of young people live, study and socialise all in one place, meaning effective fire doors are imperative to fire safety.
When they work, fire doors save lives. But if they’re poorly maintained or not inspected regularly, they can fail in an instant - leaving occupants with little time to react. In busy environments like student accommodation, where doors are in constant use, the stakes are even higher.
The Shocking Reality of Fire Door Compliance
The statistics tell a worrying story:
According to the International Fire & Safety Journal, 75% of fire doors inspected in the UK in 2021 failed to meet required safety standards.
Research from Fire Door Safety Week in recent years found that over half (57%) of the UK public wouldn’t be able to spot a problem with a fire door.
Fires have the ability to spread through a building in just minutes, making the above statistics alarming. By having faulty or misused fire doors, they reduce protection and increase risk for all occupants, as a fire could move faster with no restriction. For student accommodation providers, that can mean hundreds of lives at risk in a single incident.
These figures highlight a dangerous knowledge gap. If people can’t recognise faults, and if the majority of inspected fire doors are failing, then lives are being put at unnecessary risk. For student accommodation providers, the stakes are even higher, as a single building more than likely houses hundreds of residents.
The Hidden Cost of Fire Door Management
For many student accommodation providers, fire door inspections are an expensive and time-consuming process. Annual inspections often reveal hidden issues, but without strong asset management, problems can go untracked or unaddressed for too long. Add in the scale of managing multiple sites, and compliance can quickly become overwhelming.
That’s where technology steps in – making inspections smarter, asset tracking clearer, and compliance easier to maintain.
How Technology Transforms Fire Door Safety
At Drax Technology, we’ve developed a fire door solution designed specifically for environments like student accommodation. Here’s how it works:
Annual Inspections Built for Compliance – A clear inspection framework that ensures every fire door meets regulatory standards.
Asset Tagging & SafeVue Integration – Each fire door is tagged and logged into our SafeVue software, creating a complete, accessible record.
RAG Reporting System – A Red-Amber-Green system helps prioritise issues, plan budgets, and accelerate essential repairs.
Interim Inspections by Site Teams – Trained staff can carry out interim checks on communal doors between annual inspections.
Automated Notifications – SafeVue prompts quarterly inspections, so compliance doesn’t get lost in the shuffle of day-to-day operations.
The result? Significant savings on inspection costs and, more importantly, total visibility of every fire door across a site or portfolio.
Beyond Fire Doors: A Wider Safety Net
While fire doors are crucial, they’re just one part of a much bigger picture. Drax Technology also supports student accommodation providers with connected fire safety solutions, including:
Fire Alarm Monitoring & Data Insights – All fire alarms and safety systems, regardless of brand, connected into one dashboard. Real-time alerts and instant reporting make compliance effortless.
Weekly Testing Module – A guided tool that helps teams carry out fully compliant weekly tests, supported by automated reports showing live faults, device removals, or repeated activations.
Service Desk Integration – A direct link to our service desk ensures faster investigation and resolution of any issues.
Together, these tools create a proactive safety culture where nothing is left to chance.
Fire Door Asset Management: Compliance Made Simple
Managing hundreds – or even thousands – of fire doors doesn’t have to be a guessing game. With Drax Technology’s Asset Management Tool, providers can:
Track fire doors from a single mobile or desktop platform.
Monitor asset health and inspection history.
Organise inspections across multiple sites.
Demonstrate compliance at the click of a button.
It’s a smarter, stress-free way to manage fire doors – reducing paperwork while improving accountability.
Fire Door Safety Week: A Call to Action
This year’s Fire Door Safety Week theme, “Fire Travels Fast,” is a powerful reminder that in student accommodation, every delay in fire safety can put lives at risk.
By combining inspections, asset management, and data-driven reporting, Drax Technology helps providers move beyond reactive compliance towards genuine protection. Contact us today to find out more on how we can keep your building safe and compliant.
Back to Blog
