Posted By David Ferrier We share a 5-storey, twin-occupancy, facilitated office building. It has 2 fire escape stairways, each with a final exit door at ground level, opening directly to the street. Access to the stairways, from each floor, is via "push-bar" self-closing doors. Once onto the stairway, the only way out is down through the final exit door, as the doors on each floor are either fitted with security-coded key-pads or cannot be opened from the stairway side. Our landlord's agent, who coordinates the fire drills, often simulates a blocked final exit door, by standing at it and telling people to use another exit, requiring them to go back through the office areas to another fire exit. This is fine during a drill, as there are usually sufficient personnel still exiting and available to open the doors from the office side, however, in an "out-of-hours" real incident, a person would be trapped in the stairwell if the ground floor exit door was blocked or inoperable. The stairways are constructed from concrete and are not used for storage. Any comments on the "out-of-hours" scenario would be appreciated? Regards David

Posted By Crim Blocking off one means of escape during a fire drill is good practice but attention should be made to the practical aspects. I agree with Shaun that stairways should always be clear, as should the final exit from the building. Shaun, as we are not familiar with this building I suggest David should ask the landlord his reasons for blocking the final exit, he may suggest the fire could be outside and close to the exit door, (recent car bombings for example), however in that case you would possibly be informed by the person sounding the alarm and take the other route, unless automatic fire detection has sounded the alarm, in that case the zone should show on the panel and a well rehearsed evacuation then follow. It is good practice to carry out regular checks of escape routes all the way to the assembly point/s. Out of hours should be no different.

Posted By Bob Youel it begs the question 'is your landlords rep competent'?

Posted By shaun mckeever Be careful with Mag locks. Most are not approved for use on fire doors because the steel bolt passes through the door thus destroying the integrity fo the door.

Posted By shaun mckeever What is wrong with painting intumescent seals? Also Sealmaster, a manufacturer of intumescent seals, tested the seals they installed at Wembley over 20 years ago before the old Wembley was bulldozed and proved the seals were still effective.

Posted By Gff I don't think there is any problem with having final exits on closers, this is very common (perhaps shaun can comment). With regards to the key pad mechanical no they ideally should not be installed, electronic ones which fail safe are normally fine

Posted By Gff With regards to the locks on the doors (including mag locks) theis hardware must conform to BS476:22 or EN 1634-1, the should not have a meting point lower that 900 deg C and should fitting should be prpared in accordance with the manufacturers instructions and BS 8214: 16.4 Voids should be kept to a minimum in the istallation and where they exists should be filled with and intumecent sealant and through fixings should be kept as small as possible and should not affect the fire rating of the door as tested Refer to the Door & Hardware Federation Approved code of practice Issue number 2 June 2006

Posted By shaun mckeever Gff I'd like to thank you for referring to that door hardware document. I was unaware of it. I have downloaded and will now have some bedtime reading. Having said that You are right regarding the tests and standard on fire doors but there are very few that have been subjected to the test and satisfy the requirements for hardware on fire doors.