Originally Posted by: Crusaderno10

I have a concern at my place of work which I have raised with the plant manager and HS manager about a fire exit door. Due to the door being used as a access/exit door for all employees on a morning and night and forklift activity within 3 ft of the doorway the manager decided to put a fixed barrier across half the doorway. The idea being incoming employees would not step out onto a active forklift path when entering the building. Now due to a unauthorised delivery driver entering the building through this doorway, the manager has put a chain across to totally block off the doorway. In my opinion this is an obstruction and I informed him and suggested replacing the existing door with a purpose made fire door which cannot be opened from the outside, only opened via bars from inside. His opinion and my HS manager agreed that the chain can be removed/released quickly, therefore it's not an obstruction and a proper fire door would only be left open in the summertime anyway. Just wondering what you guys thought and opinions are.

Article 14 Fire Safety Order 2005 (f) emergency doors must not be so locked or fastened that they cannot be easily and immediately opened by any person who may require to use them in an emergency.

Final exit doors should open with one action only so even having break glass, etc should now not be fitted.

Not certain what they are called but you can get emergency crash bars that are linked to an external lock. They allow easy access from inside to outside but unauthorised enetry from outside is not permitted.

Originally Posted by: Invictus

Originally Posted by: gotogmca

Not certain what they are called but you can get emergency crash bars that are linked to an external lock. They allow easy access from inside to outside but unauthorised enetry from outside is not permitted.

You might find they are called 'push bars'

I see this place hasn't changed much. Very quickly remembering why I gave up before.

https://www.iosh.co.uk/~/media/Documents/About%20us/COR1081%20Code_%20guidance%20and%20disciplinary%20procedure.pdf?la=en

This looks to me like the management want to allow the door to be used by employees for access and egress but also want security to prevent non employees using the door.

It is always difficult to achieve both as if the door is a FIRE EXIT it cannot be secured, as already stated above.

A yale lock could be fitted with a push pad on the inside and authorised users issued with a key.

Question: how far away is the nearest access door, maybe there is a need for a new door to be installed for entry/exit purposes.

Don't secure the door, even with a simple chain, this can lead to a fine or even worse - fatalities.

“There is an access door used by office staff no more than 150 foot away, for some reason, shop floor staff aren't permitted to use this as an access/egress door at start/end of shift.” You should find out why this is the case. A lot of H&S is not about applying rules etc but about finding why people do things in a particular way. Half of the time you discover it’s because of something that happened years ago and is no longer relevant or some piece of bizarre Downton Abbey-like whimsy of not want shop floor workers and office staff to mix.

If the chain was installed because of the delivery Driver perhaps you can speak with him when he is next on your Site or contact his Company and explain the issue so they can get an understanding. Also, if not already in place, a clearly worded warning / no entry sign on the outside for visitors

Edited by user 28 April 2017 10:29:36(UTC)  | Reason: Can't spell

I totally agree with, it had also happened in my company where I work before but I can't give them such kind of useful opinion. But you have done a great job by suggesting them this. They must replace a door with some kind of door which only open from inside so that no one will come from outside. I really appreciate your opinion.