I've shared several news stories about high school students designing barricade devices (here's one, here's another), but now the Air Force Research Lab has joined the effort. Sadly, this "innovation" probably won't stop until a tragedy occurs...
I hope this whiteboard animation video helps to explain one of hardware's most confusing topics - flush bolts and coordinators!
I've written quite a few specifications for museum projects and although many architects have asked me for "invisible doors," I do my best to talk them out of it. These are two different museums, in two different states, but these Wordless Wednesday photos were both sent to me the same week by two different people...
Today I presented as part of a panel discussion at the annual conference of the National Association of State Fire Marshals, along with my fellow panelists: Larry Flowers - Ohio State Fire Marshal, Ed Paulk - Alabama State Fire Marshal, Kelly Nicolello of UL, and John Woestman of the Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association. The panel was moderated by Jim Tidwell of Tidwell Code Consulting, and Jim Narva of NASFM kicked it off.
As many of you know, I have been closely watching the barricade device issue in Ohio. If you haven't been following along, here's the summary of what happened:
The theory is that the stick on this hold-open is there so you don't have to bend over to install/remove the wedge. I'll bet the architect who chose those door pulls didn't have this aesthetic in mind. Thank you to Rachel Smith of Karpen Steel for this Fixed-it Friday photo!
Here's the latest in our series of whiteboard animation videos explaining door-related topics. This one covers various options for securing classroom doors, in alignment with the guidelines from the National Association of State Fire Marshals. Enjoy and share!
These photos from an Alabama day care center make me nauseous. Literally. I'm Wordless.
I recently went on a field trip to an elementary school with Greg Thomson (Allegion specwriter) and a group of our specwriter apprentices, and we saw a couple of interesting applications in the courtyard. The courtyard is fully enclosed so a means of egress is required at each end...
I've received several photos lately of restroom doors with non-code-compliant deadbolts. Some examples of this problem could be...
Today's Fixed-it Friday photo is from Joe Cross of Allegion. This actuator mounting location does NOT meet the recommendations of the A156.19 standard...
(Note: If you're in the St. Louis area, there is a school security seminar coming up on July 22th, and there's still space if you want to attend.) Today's post: I haven't posted much about traditional wired glass lately, but the hazard continues to be present in existing schools and other facilities...
I've seen a lot of funky egress route restrictions in airports, but this was a first...
Some of you might be thinking..."Doors can't be disguised like that!" but this mural is on the access or ingress side of the door, not the egress side. The model codes require means of egress doors to be readily distinguishable and easily recognizable as doors, but this requirement is typically applied to the egress side of the door...
I often find that I am more cautious about modifying code requirements than even the AHJ. This opening is serving an Assembly occupancy, where delayed egress is not allowed by the IBC. In addition, the AHJ approved the 30-second delay instead of 15 seconds...
Yesterday's post was not ready in time for the afternoon notification, so in addition to today's Fixed-it Friday photo, there's a bonus set of photos from the Bronx Zoo. If you're reading this on the email notification, you should see the zoo link below. Happy Friday!
As promised in Monday's post, here are some of the doors we saw during our visit to the Bronx Zoo. Keep your camera ready during your summer vacation and send me some photos of interesting doors that you see (please)!
I have nothing to say except "thank you to Grah Security for today's Wordless Wednesday photo."
We just got back from NYC, where we were invited to visit the FDNY fire station for Engine 320 and Ladder 167 by the developer of the Cease Fire hinge, which I wrote about last fall. The kids are working on a project to help reduce deaths in home fires, so it was a privilege to visit the station and get all of their questions answered...
I checked with the ICC and NFPA for a code opinion, and both staff members acknowledged that the code does not address this specific issue, so it would be left up to the AHJ. One made a good point - the time to initiate the timer and the time to release the device should be two separate periods...
The first response might be - there's no exit sign, so no problem, right? Wrong! While I can't say for sure that these particular doors are egress doors, using the presence of exit signs to determine whether the door is in a required means of egress is not a reliable plan. If a door has an exit sign, it needs to meet the egress requirements. And even if it doesn't have an exit sign...
This Wordless Wednesday photo from John Gant of Allegion ties in with Monday's post about viewer locations. I've never seen a requirement for 3 viewers in a hotel room door, so my guess is that one of the viewers was originally installed at the wrong location and a third was added to solve the problem...
