Posted By Robert S Woods We have a basement door which our insurance company insist is fitted with 2 X 7 lever locks. The door is also the exit door of an emergency escape route. Previous workplaces have had a strictly enforced policy of the first person in slides back bolts or unlocks doors. This has always been seen by the brigade as sufficient. The fire brigade are insisting that the door is fitted with a push bar/pad opener and the locks removed. Any one had a similar problem and what was the solution. Bob

Posted By Phillip Its common practice to lock fire doors out of hours. Perhaps the fire brigade have specific issues, eg underground, only one escape route etc. Have you asked them for their specific reasons. If there are any specific issues then you may then be able to offer alternatives.

Posted By shaun mckeever Under the proposed new fire safety legislation the fire authority cannot be prescriptive about what you use. They can inform you they are not satisfied that you are not complying with a particular function i.e. means of escape but the solution will be your responsibility. If in your risk assessment you can propose a single fastening that is easy and quick to use then that should be sufficient. I am an ex enforcing officer and came across several examples where people would unlock the door at the beginning of the day. You should explain this in your FRA and the fire brigade should, even now, accept your fire risk assessment providing it is suitable and sufficient. However, be warned, if one day you fail to unlock the door then you will not be providing adequate means of escape and you will be liable.

Posted By JOHN LEES So, does that mean that fire/emergency doors can be locked ALL the time, as long as there's a quick and obvious way of opening the door when needed?

Posted By Robert S Woods Checked it before posting but as you will observe there's always some errors when it's displayed. Is this an example of sods law or my cr*p typing, or both?

Posted By Martin Allan "WORD OF CAUTION" & I hope I'm not teaching folks to suck eggs etc, but some may not be aware that older Fire Doors frequently had asbestos skins in the form of asbestos sheet, some I was told had an asbestos infill but I have never found any. Asbestos sheeting found on doors of this type can be simple asbestos cement sheet or more hazardous "AIB" Asbestos Insulation Board. This latter material can be quite friable and in its less dense forms often is found to contain Blue/brown and white asbestiforms. If less than 1000Kg/cubic M (1gm/cc) it is held to be friable and caution should be excercised, (If it floats its dodgy!) Disposal of AIB is also more stringently controlled. The message is, check the asbestos register and see if the doors were included in the survey, if not have them checked before any alterations are done.