Fire Exits

A situation exists in my home, where my wife leaves the house to go to work at 3.a.m. She locks the door from the outside. The door must be opened from the inside with a key. This to me feels like she is subjecting myself, and my two, 6 and 7 year old children to an increased risk in the event of a fire. This because I have not been able to form the habit of putting the key in close proximity to the door on the inside. Of course in an ideal world I would be making sure that the door was easy to open, in spite of her actions, but her actions are deliberate, whereas my failures to act are not by choice. Of course she believes that she is doing this due to other reasona…

In a simple layout shop would the customer WC doors opening onto the customer area and the staff area doors require quick release thumbturn mechanisms on the inside of the door or would key lockable devices be acceptable if the key remains in the door?

Hi there, I currently have a training centre that has a fire door which leads to a ground floor stairwell with a further fire door to its left which leads to outside. At the moment the fire door leading from the training room to the stairwell has a push bar to exit but on the other side it has a handle so basically people using the stairs on a day to day basis could access this training centre which we do not want. Is there an issue if we remove the door handle to stop personnel accessing this area from the stairwell?

We are currently constructing an extension onto the rear of a council property with the tenant still in residence and left him with access to the rear via a small walkway to the rear door as a fire escape. But due now the works are getting further on we now need to remove that access to the rear door because we need to carry out works in that part of the kitchen. But the tenant is being obstructive and keeps stating that the law states that he needs access to the rear in case there is a fire at the front door but due to the type of work being carried out ie excavations we has a company have a duty of care to protect the tenant from injuring himself on the construction si…

Hi, There is a building that has been recently renovated to have a groundfloor flat, an first floor flat and the loft has been converted into a further flat on the second floor. On the second floor flat there is only access to it by a single stair case and no other exits. All three flats in the building are student flats with 5 bedrooms in each. I fear if there was a fire that blocked the only exit stair you would be trapped as there is no other exit out of windows as they are all unaccesible and too high to escape. When this flat was recently renovated do you believe it complies with building reg's? I believe for it to be safe an alternative exit would be required…

Hi, I work for a maintenance company and we have been asked to install push bars onto a set of doors which our client wishes to use as a fire escape. The doors currently open inwards. One site has doors which lead straight onto public footpath running at the back of the site. The second site has a set of doors used to escape onto a back alley/walkway at the back of the site, this leads to a gate/door which leads onto a public footpath - this is the location where they wish to have push bars installed. I have suggested to install a push pad and D handle with appropriate signage and lighting in addition, but I'd like to know if this is the correct advise or i…

I currently rent a shop which has an enclosed lane that runs along the side of it. The lane belongs to my shop. The shop around the back have a right of easement over my lane, to be used solely as a fire escape... they have recently changed my lock on the front door (and re painted it badly as they had damaged it in the process) Their are a couple of issues with this, the front door opens in, and cannot be changed as we are in a conservation area, the lock they have put on the door will not self close, so, if they have to use the door in the event of a fire, the door will remain open/unlocked, and therefore invalidate my insurance... (As it can only be re-closed with a ke…

Hi, I have been asked by landlord of a pub to look at his emergency exit doors as he has had people trying to break in. The 2 doors currently have panic bar system with outside handle with lock in center of the handle. He asked if a dead lock with thumb turn euro cylinder can be added as it might put off the attempted break ins if they see an extra lock on the door. I wasn't sure if it was allowed or with it being a thumb turn it would be Please let me know Many thanks Gary

Good afternoon, We are currently in a retail premises, where our rear stock room has a door leading into it from the shop next door which is their fire exit door. Is this legal at all? The problem I have is that we do not open on Sunday and as such out rear stock room doors are locked shut, which then blocks the escape route for the shop next door. Any help greatly appreciated, as we are currently being told that we need to keep the rear stockroom empty so that the fire exit can be used!

Hi we've just purchased a 4 story edwardian terrace property and want to let it out As a holiday property. 8 bed and max 16 people. property only has a front and back door - do you have to have a 4 story fire escape as there isn't one fitted. thanks

I would like to know what type of door furniture is suitable for an inward opening final fire door from a small office, about 6 people, thanks

Are key lockable device allowed on fire rated and non fire rated doors within a shop if the key is present or do these require replacing to thumbturn mechanisms?

I have a client who has a 3 storey office building with several fire escape staircases. Each door leading from the office space has a lock with thumb turn operation for security as it is a multiple tenancy building. We have been asked to find out if a double throw lock is acceptable in this application. I am struggling to find an answer and wondered if you could help and point me in the direction of some literature that I can send her. Many thanks Paul

Hi there, looking for some advice please! My toddler son attends a crèche which until last week was accessed via a foyer and a locked internal door with sight glass and ring bell. Some other users of the building complained about kids in the foyer and now access has been restricted to via a final fire exit door round the side of the building. I am very unhappy about this as staff cannot see who is at this door and of course it opens out the way. We live in the far north of Scotland and it can be incredibly windy making the door hard to control. What are the rules regarding this? It is my understanding that these doors should facilitate people evacuating the building In an…

Hello there, I would like some information on how fire exits should be used. As a cleaning company we have a cleaner at a clients apartment situated in the ground floor next to a fire exit with a panic bar. A neighbour has been complaining to ourselves to say the fire exit isnt allowed for the cleaner to exit from. Up until this day the cleaner has used this door to leave making sure its closed properly as do other residents of the building. Could you please clarify weather or not such fire exit is allowed to be used as a normal exit from the building for the complainers attention. Kind Regards

I don't know if you are able to advise us. In the light of a recent news article relating to a fire in SE London where two people where killed due to issues with fire doors. We live in an ex-council block of flats. There is only one door for access and exit from the location and no other due to the way the flats were designed into a slope of a hill. The concern being if this one door was blocked by fire then no one from the 40 flats above could escape! Is there a requirement for fire safety to have more than one exit? Could you point me to the right direction as to someone that would know? Many thanks for your time, Darren

Hi, Is it possible to disable a single magnetic self release fire door? I would like to disable one so that it is constantly released in effect making it a standard fire door with a self closure that cant be propped open. This will not effect the fire safety of the premise, if anything it would make it safer as the self closure device would always be keeping the door shut. To be clear, the magnetic device holds the fire door open and upon the fire alarm going off, will release so the door shuts automatically. I am in a building with multiple self releases. In my experience when one magnetic release fails, all the magnetic releases on the same system fail -…

I belong to a short lawn bowls club, and play a couple of times a week. Recently the caretaker of the villagehall we play in requested that because of theft from the hall, we should lock ourselves in for the duration of the games. Now I think this is a really dangerous idea, in case of fire it would only leave 1 fire exit. Can I please have some advice. Thanks

Please can you answer a question regarding my sons flat. To me it looks like the owner has taken the back storage of the shop, which is at the front (his flat has access at the back) and made a one bedroom flat. It is open plan kitchen living room and one bedroom and a bath room with only one door/window in which is where the kitchen is. so if there were a fire and they were at the other end or in the bedroom then the only way out is back into the shop, as there is a lock door, not even sure if it is barricaded and can be opened. does this sound acceptable? should I contact the local council to see if planning has been given? I have attached a crude layout. …

I have read a post where the answer that was given by Mr. Sutton ended with "The means of escape from a premises doesn’t finish until it discharges onto the public thoroughfare." This is my situation. The next door property want a fire door leading onto my property but to escape they would have to go through my usually locked gate to get to the public street. Can you please tell me, if possible, where I can view the regulations that say it does not finish until it discharges onto the public thoroughfare. Thank you.

My client wishes to incorporate the fire safety signage within the push bar, recognizing that it must have white text on green background. Can you advise if there are any push bar systems that meet this requirement

hi an employee of mine who wants to leave work early and is responsible for locking up has locked the fire exit while people were in the building can this be classed as gross misconduct

Hello I hope you can help me with this one. There is a Large Asda and directly outside in the privately owned car park I would say just 1 meter from the fire exit / entrance is a mini cab firm picking up people with Marshalls helping with the shopping etc. They have banners spreading the length of the fire exits/ entrance Inbetween the billiards and I wondered if this is unsafe and could be seen as an obstruction giving the store can hold hundreds of people in the event of an escape the banners and cars parking in a space directly outside the doors that was never designated for vehicles to stop and wait for people to come out, would it be against fire regulations. As it o…

Our Company installs Access Control Systems. We have a School that have an Exit Door Secured by a Magnetic Lock ( Fire Route.) Egress via a push to Exit Button and A Green Emergency Release unit. Pupils have damaged the Green Emergency unit several times. Can the unit be Removed as the Lock is also connected through a Fire Alarm Interface Unit? Thanks for your Assistance

Hi can you please advise, I have had a request to fit a stair lift in a common stairwell accessing two properties. The width of the stair well before fitting the lift is only 1000mm. Can you advise on the minimum space required for access after the equipment is installed?