I’m still shaking my head over today’s Fixed-it Friday photo, which I received from Rich McKie of School District 38 in Richmond, BC, Canada. After a lockdown system was installed at this elementary school, a piece of pipe insulation was glued to the entrance door leading to the day care center. Why? So that the pipe insulation could be wrapped around the door edge to prevent the door from closing and latching, which would allow parents to enter without waiting for someone to let them in.
Can you top that?
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Just a little more info to add to Lori’s comments above.
We are in the 3rd year of a four year program to install Access Control/Lockdown hardware in our 50 schools.
Due to the expense not every exterior door is getting the full meal deal (Electric strike, card reader etc.)
The main entrances have card access and these doors are time zoned to be unlocked as the school administrators request, usually before school, at recess and at lunch. Each school has a set of lockdown buttons in the office for emergency use. Once all of the schools have the main doors controlled we are hoping we will have funding to go back and revisit doors like the one in the picture to improve security and useability for the occupants. In the meantime we can try to educate the staff on the importance of security (And the Fire Code!)but we don’t have the authority to enforce the policies. We have come to realize that we can give them the tools to secure their buildings but it is up to them to use them.
Thanks for the insight, Rich!
– Lori
Comes from the same thought process as the fire labeled wood wedge. We spend thousands of dollars on hardware and negate it’s purpose with a few cents worth of material. Go figure!
Lori. It’s like a balance beam scale. When we create a better locking system and put it on one end of the balance beam, a better idiot automatically appears on the other end to nullify our better idea.
Life in the lock business??
I have seen it before. The staff would slide it on and off so door won’t latch during busy pick up and drop off times.
What does the little sign/label above the lever escutcheon say?
It says “No Key Access.”
– Lori
I wish I could say this was unusual, but it’s pretty much typical at the district where I work. The DoorBlok product is all over the place, a product that was designed by a parent to mitigate the “distraction” of the nose of the door shutting and to make it easier for his special needs child to open the classroom door. Fire code? What’s that?
We used to confiscate and destroy them, but it’s a losing battle. Nobody is going to care until someone dies as a result.
I have often said Security and Convenience are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
We recently did service to a daycare facility albeit in the basement of a church (so at this point no lock down protocol) however we installed a digital lock and all the parents use a code to obtain access.
I tend to put forward a triangle of three elements: Security, Convenience and Price. At this point, some of the security they want is only achieved by changes in floor plan and/or doors. If you want serious changes, tinkering with little fixes are not going to get you where you want.
There are so many solutions to lock down the door, and yet let in frequent and pre-screened visitors. Push button locks for example.
This is a case of the hardware being installed to meet a code, or a desire, but not to meet the local users NEED.
There are both codes and users to consider. As hardware professionals CAN satisify both with solutions that will work in real life. Most solutions that only satisfy the code will fail or be compromised shortly.