Mag lock door release

[Lee]

 I'm after a bit of advise from you guys as my colleagues and I have a difference of opinion regarding a issue at a care home. We are currently upgrading the alarm system and looking at the installation of Maglocks. This particular home has been given a enforcement notice by the local fire authority, and they have requested this.

The difference of opinion are 2 doors along a corridor, which are close to bedrooms and as some of the residents suffer from dementia the concern is, if they were fitted with maglocks and the alarm was actuated due to a false alarm, fault etc, then these doors would open leaving the residents free to walk outside unaided. At the moment they are fitted with Redlam door bolts.

We are informed by the responsible person that the enforcing officer stated it was to allow fire crews to enter the building from that side. I can see both points if I'm honest, would appreciate someone else's thoughts

 

 

[Tom Sutton]

I far as I am aware there is no required to allow fire crews to enter the building from the outside, the staff will simply open the doors and allow them in, if not they have effective means of opening doors without a key.

I think it all depends on the needs of the residents in the care home, does the doors need to be secure in preventing residents from wandering outside then special needs would be required and either devices has manual means of opening the door, take your choice.

[AnthonyB]

Many care homes have no fire alarm interface for the safety reasons mentioned and usually only have local break glass releases and fail safe on loss of power. To compensate many also have a master override that releases all the doors in the main office with the fire alarm panel and call system.

Such a deviation in these situations is permitted in the benchmark standard for these devices (BS7273-4) so it's straightforward for the risk assessor to challenge the notice requirement.

Also the fire service are not legally allowed to require the provision of additional facilities for fire fighters under the Fire Safety Order, just require those already provided under other legislation (usually Building Regulations at the time of original build) to be maintained

[Lee]

Cheers guys, it turns out the responsible person got it wrong, after speaking to the fire authority the concern was the fact if the escape route to these particular bedrooms were blocked, the staff must be able to enter the building through these doors. I questioned the possibility of external key pads with a combination lock but the fire authority said due to a moment of panic the code could be forgotten. I said maybe the code could be the same as the front door? anyway the end result is to fit the mag locks