All I can say about this restaurant exit is…WOW!
Thank you to Jared Wilson of Eckard Hardware for today’s Wordless Wednesday photos!
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WW: More Zip Ties
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I guess they are kid tested?? Those are looking a little stronger.
Of course the sign next to the door says run at it and it will open.
It does amaze me at times when we see pictures like this and the first thing someone will say is “How can the Fire Inspector NOT see this”? EASY…. when we come in the restaurant, the manager sends little Johnny to the back door to cut off the zip ties!!! He knows its illegal to bar the door and by the time we get to the back door, Johnny has done his job!! When we leave….the zip ties go back on for another 6 months or the reinspection!! Now you can say…”Why don’t you go there every day to check on the door”? Remember…we don’t see this!! We see the door clear and open, not to mention the fact that if we did go every day, he can complain to the “Municipal Fathers” about harassment!! Oh, by the way, there are 30+ restaurants in our fair city and only 8 hours in a day and the Bureau consists of Me, Myself and I (and I’m not so sure about Myself) :-):-) !! Now, I KNOW conditions like this exist in ALL municipalities but we do need everyone’s help to let us know of these conditions. Thanks
So as an AHJ, what do you think when you get a message from one of “us” saying that there is a door problem somewhere? I have done this quite a few times (this one especially comes to mind: https://idighardware.com/2014/03/risque-and-risky/), and I have almost always had a prompt and grateful response. But I think sometimes we feel like an AHJ might think we’re trying to tell them how to do their job, or that we’re tattling on the building owner. Maybe you can help me convince more people to make that call. 🙂
– Lori
Well Lori,
Any notification from you is GOLD…. Come On!!! Seriously, as any AHJ can tell you, we can’t be in every building every day so we MUST rely on you and the general public to be our eyes out there. As far as tattling… I refuse to tell the building/business owner how I got my information so that’s never a problem. I welcome all the help I can get!! I myself have called a Fire Prevention Bureau in a town if I see something. For everyone out there….MAKE THAT CALL… It will be appreciated!!!
Thanks Lori,
Kevin
Ok – great to know! I know some departments even have an app that allows people to report problems – I think this is a great idea although it could create a lot of work for the fire inspectors.
– Lori
Extremely important to use fusible zip ties.
Omg!
Joe G
Hmmm … does this, like, void the warranty or something?
As an AHJ we have the same problem as the police department,,,,,
Not enough eyes. So I welcome any reports!!!
Except the neighbor against neighbor, normally no problem found.
A number of years ago, I received a call from our Fire Chief. He had a report that the College gym being used for a high school basketball championship had exit problems. We found that only two of 14 pairs of exit doors were useable with the others deranged by chains through the panic hardware. We tried to find someone in charge but no one had a key for the padlocks used. The Chief even threatened to walk out on the court and announce the building needed to be evacuated. It was well over its occupancy with people sitting on bleacher stairs, sitting on the floor along the sidelines and standing in the means of egress. Suddenly he turned to me and asked.me to go out to the fire car and get a key for the chains. I did not understand until he made a motion like one would make using a bolt cutter. The exits were open in a jiffy. It turns out one of our firemen who operates the building was responsible, caving to pressure from the basketball folks who wanted only one point of entry for crowd control. It seemed reasonable to him! To me, this illustrates part of the problem. Building owners and operators seldom understand fire features in their buildings and the impact of failing to maintain egress “in case of emergency” which can include more than fire emergencies.
I love your stories! Keep them coming! 😀
– Lori
With your encouragement, one more. Perhaps the most important of all. Near Halloween, some of the charitable organizations would put together haunted houses. I took my youngsters to one. The haunted house was in an abandoned, two story duplex. A labyrinth of passageways created by cardboard and existing walls lead the youngsters up to the second story, across to the other duplex and down and through the first level, only one exit. The building had power which was employed by extension cords to a number of incandescent bulbs placed for effect. They had devised all sorts of surprises including one that caught me, an offset in the path that caused people to fall forward on a mattress. When we got outside I contacted a person in charge with my concerns over having upward of 100 kids in such a combustible environment with so many sources of ignition, no egress lighting, offsets in the path of travel, no visible way out, etc. I found he had no understanding of the potential carnage that awaited them should the temporary suspention of all common sense cause a fire.
Since that time I have noticed that charitable causes sometimes operate without restraint at times. They have little understanding that most of our fire requirements originated in the “school of hard knocks”.
I agree – most people are not aware of how codes came to be. Without knowing the history, it’s easier to poo-poo the requirements of the current codes and say they don’t matter. This is my point with the people who say that schools don’t need to follow the fire codes because no one dies in school fires any more. With almost 5,000 fires in educational occupancies each year (present day), why don’t we have the dozens of fatalities that were not uncommon 60+ years ago? Because of the changes made to the codes and the enforcement of the codes. Without that, we’d still be seeing multiple-fatality school fires. Without changes made after nightclub tragedies, hospital fires, and incidents in manufacturing facilities, we’d still be seeing multiple fatalities in those occupancies as well.
– Lori