Can Fire Doors Be Held Open? Legal Devices vs Wedges

Is it illegal to wedge a fire door open?

Wedging is not a named offence on its own, but it can breach the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which requires fire safety measures to be kept in efficient working order. Serious breaches can lead to an unlimited fine and up to two years in prison.

A fire door only works when it is shut. It holds back fire and smoke for 30 or 60 minutes so people can get out along the escape route. A wedged door leaves a hole in that fire wall, often right on the corridor people need to use.

Enforcement usually starts with advice or an enforcement notice from the fire and rescue service. Prosecution is kept for serious or repeated failures, but a wedged door found after a fire is hard to defend. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 guidance also says residents in blocks of flats should be told to keep fire doors shut when not in use.

People wedge doors for real reasons: the door is heavy, it slams, or staff are wheeling trolleys through all day. The answer is to fix the reason, not to ignore the wedge. A lawful hold-open device or a better adjusted closer usually solves it.

Which devices can legally hold a fire door open?

There are four common lawful options: an electromagnetic door holder, a free-swing closer, a hold-open closer, and an acoustic (sound-activated) device. All of them release the door when the fire alarm operates.

Electrically powered hold-open devices and free-swing closers are covered by BS EN 1155. How they are triggered by the fire alarm is covered by BS 7273-4. The closer itself should meet BS EN 1154. A fusible link, which melts in heat, is allowed by Approved Document B in some places but not on doors that form part of an escape route, because smoke spreads long before the link melts.

Do hold-open devices need a fire alarm?

Yes. Every lawful hold-open device relies on a fire alarm, a smoke detector or the sound of a sounder to release the door. With nothing to trigger it, the door should simply be left to self-close.

This catches out small premises and many blocks of flats with a stay-put strategy. If there is no communal fire alarm, there is nothing to tell a magnet or acoustic device to let go. An acoustic device fitted in a corridor where no sounder ever goes off is just an expensive doorstop.

Some free-swing closers can be linked to their own smoke detector. That can suit a flat entrance door in a block with no communal alarm, as long as the fire risk assessment agrees. Communal corridor doors in those blocks should stay closed.

Can flat entrance doors and communal doors be held open?

Communal corridor and lobby doors can be held open on magnetic devices only where smoke detectors would close them, according to the government's 2022 fire door guidance (revised 8 August 2025). Flat entrance doors should be self-closing and kept shut.

Approved Document B says all fire doors should have a self-closing device, with two exceptions: cupboard and service duct doors that are kept locked shut, and fire doors inside a flat. So the bedroom and kitchen doors inside your own flat do not need closers, but the front door onto the communal corridor does.

Where a resident needs the flat door open, for mobility or care reasons, a free-swing closer is the usual answer. The government guidance also says that when a held door is checked, use the test button rather than pulling the door off the magnet.

How often should hold-open devices be tested?

Check that held doors release and close fully every time the fire alarm is tested, usually weekly. The release should also be tested as part of the alarm's cause-and-effect checks at each service.

A held door that does not release is worse than no device at all, because everyone assumes it is safe. Acoustic units also need their batteries checked as the maker recommends. For more on the wider schedule, see how often fire doors need inspecting.

What happens if a fire door is found wedged during an inspection?

It is recorded as a fault and the reason behind it is fixed. In our inspection data, 13% of doors with faults had a closer problem, and a badly set closer is one of the main reasons people wedge doors.

Often the fix is simple. A closer that slams or is too heavy can be adjusted or replaced, typically £100 to £250 + VAT for a new overhead closer fitted. Where the door genuinely needs to stand open, a hold-open device linked to the alarm is the lasting answer. See our guide to fire door closers and our fire door inspection statistics.

If an inspection has flagged wedged or damaged doors, our failed fire door inspection guide explains the next steps, and fire door repairs covers the work itself. We inspect and repair fire doors across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, London, the Thames Valley and the East Midlands.

Sources

• Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022: fire door guidance (GOV.UK, revised 8 August 2025)
• Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
• Approved Document B: Fire safety (GOV.UK)
• BS EN 1155: Electrically powered hold-open devices for swing doors (BSI)
• BS 7273-4: Actuation of release mechanisms for doors (BSI)
• BS EN 1154: Controlled door closing devices (BSI)
• DC Fire & Security: fire door inspection statistics

Updated October 2026 by Sebastian Grabowski, DC Fire & Security. We inspect and repair fire doors across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, London, the Thames Valley and the East Midlands. Our own figures: fire door inspection statistics 2026.