Locked fire doors

BattleCorp

Our emergency exits in work have push bars on them. They also have a security lock that operates with a key. They can be opened using the push bar from the inside when unlocked but can't be opened at all when they are locked (without the key obviously).

They are unlocked first thing in the morning and then locked by the last person out every night.

Are locks on emergency exits allowed or is everything ok as long as they are opened in the morning and locked at night?

AlanG

Any pubs I worked in had doors like this and never failed a fire inspection.

BattleCorp

AlanG wrote: »

Any pubs I worked in had doors like this and never failed a fire inspection.

We are caught between security and health and safety.

Our security guy says that they should have locks on them as somebody could break in through the roof and then waltz out with whatever they like through the fire exit.

Someone else says that they can't have any sort of locks on them as they might need to be used at any time (even when the building is closed).

I can see both sides of the argument but I was wondering which one is legally correct.

listermint

Having had to unlock these and lock them in years gone by in various places of student employment we never had a fire issue. These would have been large retail chains.

sydthebeat

1.4.3 Doors on Escape Routes
1.4.3.1 The time taken to negotiate a closed door
can be critical in an escape situation. Doors on
escape routes (both within and from the building)
should therefore be readily openable if undue delay
is to be avoided. Accordingly the provisions in the
paragraphs below should be met.

1.4.3.2 Door fastenings - In general, doors on
escape routes, whether or not the doors are fire
doors, should either not be fitted with lock, latch or
bolt fastenings, or they should only be fitted with
simple fastenings that can be readily operated in the
direction of escape without the use of a key.

Where security on final exit doors is an important
consideration, such as some assembly or commercial
uses, panic bolts should be used to secure doors.

Where additional security is required when the
premises is not in use, hardware which is fully
removable should be used. The following
recommendations apply to buildings, or parts of
buildings which are used for assembly or recreation
(Purpose Group 5):-
(a) Exit doors from areas holding more than 50
people should either be free from fastenings or
be fitted with panic bolts complying with I.S. EN
1125 1997.
(b) Doors, other than those covered by item (a),
should be fitted only with simple fastenings that
can be operated from the escape side of the
door without the use of a key.
Attention is drawn to the provisions of the Fire
Safety in Places of Assembly (Ease of Escape),
Regulations, 1985 (S.I. No. 249 of 1985).
Information about door closing and hold open
devices for fire doors is given in Appendix B.


so in general key locks should NOT be used... unless previous agreed with Fire Officers. It comes down to fire management as well ie who opens and closes, who has keys, are they stored on site etc etc

Gumbo

I see this every day. Pubs and nightclubs would have similar arrangements. Aslong as they are open while the building is in use then the fire officer shouldn't have a problem. But, if you want to satisfy your curiosity and out your mind at ease you can send an email to buildingcontrol@dublincity.ie and they can enquire about it or pass it onto fire prevention who may or may not inspect the premises.

civdef

This tends to work fine for main doors, where people will be going in / coming out often enough to make sure it's done. On rarely used escape doors though it's a recipe for failure and generally isn't allowed, unless a very robust management system is in place.

If it's a post 1992 building, the fire cert could be worth checking - the approved compliance report generally just says something along the lines of "will comply with Paragraph 1.4.3.2", i.e. easily openable from the inside without the use of a key. If you wanted to have security locks on fire doors in conjunction with a management systems, this would need to have been specifically stated at FSC stage.