[Flat Entrance Door - lock?]

A neighbor had a child that could not get out of their flat because the door used a double-sided deadbolt. They would leave the key in the lock as a thumb turn, but on the night of the fire, it was not there.

If the door has to be used in an emergency, it should never require a key from the point of egress.

[Fire door direction of opening]

When does a door open fully? Is it once it's reached a right angle, or does it have to open further?

[school gates locked during evacuation]

From the content of the first post, I cannot tell if there was no way to evacuate or if there was just an issue evacuating quickly because the gate needed to be unlocked.

If they were not able to evacuate, I would think that would be a very big issue.

[Re-entering building to assist in evacuation]

On 10/17/2017 at 01:07, Tom Sutton said:

If the fire service is in attendance, or there is somebody taken charge,  then they are most likely to prevent you entering the building but it is still not illegal. 

Ahh I see, thanks for the clarification Tom! I was always under the assumption that it was illegal because I'd seen people stopped before. In instances of a fire and other emergency situations as well. 

[Re-entering building to assist in evacuation]

On 9/30/2017 at 14:23, Tom Sutton said:

There are no legal barriers to reentering  building on fire IMO but not a wise one, there should be a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP) for each wheelchair user and the member of staff and the wheelchair user leave together. If there are more wheelchairs than staff then move all the wheelchairs to a protected refuge near a final exit then move them outside when all have been accounted for.

I'm surprised to hear that there are not legal barriers to reentering the building. I assumed that in most instances civilians would be barred from carrying out acts like that so that the professional emergency responders can tackle it efficiently. I might be wrong in this assumption though 

[Fire doors required?]

Thanks Neil, I'll give it a read!

[Fire doors required?]

Thanks for the informative reply Tom! I know that for egress purposes and general safety the fire doors should open easily enough. It works great as a safety precaution and as a part of fire safety plans, but I wonder if it negatively impacts building security in any way? Would someone be able to take advantage of the fact that there is no basic locking system in place?

[Fire doors required?]

Just wondering if all fire doors come equipped with a basic locking system, or are required to have something specific.

I noticed on my building that there is some inconsistency between the lock hardware on different fire doors. Maybe they aren't both fired doors. Not sure.