As a business owner, ensuring the safety of your employees, assets, and infrastructure is crucial. This is especially true for spaces susceptible to blasts and explosions due to their operations. Fortunately, that’s why blast doors exist. Here’s everything you need to know about blast-resistant pedestrian doors.

What Are Blast Doors?

Blast doors are a type of heavy-duty pedestrian door used to protect staff, visitors, and assets from blast waves, explosions, fragments, and toxic gases. Blast doors are commonly used in facilities with a potential risk of explosions, such as chemical storage facilities, petrochemical sites, military and government buildings, waste-treatment facilities, and nuclear plants.

What Are Blast Doors Made Of?

Blast-resistant doors are commonly made of thick steel. Steel is a suitable material because it has a high melting point, bends to absorb high pressure, and has a higher tensile strength than other materials, such as wood and aluminum. At Creative Door Services^TM, our blast doors are made of several sheets of reinforced steel for added strength and durability.

How Are Blast Doors Rated?

Blast doors are designed to withstand the high pound-force per square inch (PSI) associated with blast events. Blast doors with six or higher PSI ratings are referred to as high-range blast door assemblies. These doors are typically used in military bases or other high-security facilities where the risk of a blast event is exceptionally high.

Medium-range blast assemblies offer PSI ratings of four to five. These doors are often used in government buildings and airports, where security is a concern, but the risk of a blast event is lower than in high-range applications.

Finally, low-range blast assemblies offer PSI ratings of one to three. These doors are typically used in commercial buildings, such as hotels and office buildings, where security is a concern, but the risk of a blast event is relatively low.

Safety Features

To ensure maximum safety and protection, blast doors are often equipped with the following features:

• Gaskets. Specialized seals and gaskets create an airtight seal around the door's perimeter to prevent blast-related elements, such as shockwaves, debris, and gases, from entering the rest of the space.
  

• Emergency exit devices. Emergency exit devices, such as touch bars and cross bars, allow staff to evacuate quickly and safely in an emergency.
  

• Locking mechanisms. Heavy-duty locking mechanisms ensure the doors remain securely closed during a blast event. Multi-point locking systems are common for added security.
  

• Vision panels. Some blast doors have built-in vision panels or may be customized to include them. These panels allow occupants to see outside without compromising safety.
  

Do Blast Doors Need to Meet Specific Standards?

Several organizations have established standards for blast-resistant doors, including the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). These standards ensure that blast doors meet specific, universal criteria for strength, durability, and performance in the face of explosive forces.

At Creative Door Services^TM, we understand that every business has unique requirements and specifications regarding blast-resistant doors. That’s why we recommend discussing your specific needs with our knowledgeable team. The blast doors we carry are fully customizable and can be engineered to meet the exact specifications of your operation, ensuring you get a solution that provides the level of protection you need.

Protect Your Assets with A Planned Maintenance Program

If you run a facility that requires blast-rated doors, keeping them in good working order is essential to ensure the safety of your employees and assets. At Creative Door Services™, we offer a comprehensive planned maintenance program to help you achieve this goal. Our experienced team can inspect your blast doors, identify any issues that need attention, and perform the necessary repairs or maintenance to keep them in optimal condition.

Our dedicated professionals are committed to ensuring that every aspect of our business is conducted with integrity and transparency and that our customers always receive the highest level of care and attention. We’re proud to be a trusted partner for businesses and organizations of all sizes.

Blast Doors in Western Canada

At Creative Door Services™, we carry a wide range of pedestrian doors from top industry manufacturers, including blast- and bullet-proof doors. We also have various access control systems, so you can rest assured that your operations are secure and that only authorized personnel can access restricted areas.

To learn more about our commercial products and services or to get a free quote, contact us today. We have eight locations from which we’re happy to serve you. You can find us in Kelowna, British Columbia; Vancouver, British Columbia; Calgary, Alberta; Edmonton, Alberta; Fort McMurray, Alberta; Regina, Saskatchewan; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; and Winnipeg, Manitoba.