Last week I received an email from the facility manager of a large health care facility. His team has been facing the same “fire door fails” that many of us see regularly – fire doors propped open, latches taped, excessive signage, or other misuse of the fire door assembly. The answer to these deficiencies caused by building occupants is education, but it’s a never-ending process. The common response is that they didn’t know it was a fire door, didn’t realize that fire doors could not be propped open, etc.
One possibility that is being considered by this facility is a small label that can be attached to the frame, just above the strike. The label would clearly state that the door is a fire door, and could include other information to help educate the users of the door opening and remind them that it’s a fire door assembly. I have sometimes seen signage on fire doors in the US, but not on ALL of the fire doors which is what this facility is considering. It seems like an idea that has the potential for reducing the number of deficiencies and possibly even saving lives if a fire occurs.
A few questions:
- Is this currently being done by other facilities?
- If yes, where are the labels being sourced?
- What information should be included on the label?
- Would a QR code leading to more information about fire doors be helpful?
- Are there concerns about applying a label like this to a fire door or frame?
WWYD?
Thank you for all of your comments and feedback on last week’s Fixed-it Friday post – I really appreciate the help! I’d love to hear what you think about fire door assembly labels as an educational tool for building occupants.
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I do like the idea of having a QR code on or adjacent to the door with quick access information for owners and occupants.
Thanks Charlie! I like it too! 🙂
– Lori
Lori,
This SOUNDS like a GREAT idea but….. I have a University that I mandated “Fire Door- Do Not Prop” signs be installed on all the stairway doors. They worked for about 3-4 weeks!! Every time I came in to inspect, I could tell by the dirt on the floors behind the door that they were propped and someone came around that day to remove the chocks. Can I absolutely prove it…. NO, but I still mention it in my semi-annual inspection report. I can’t be in the buildings all the time. I would LOVE to find THAT solution to the problem. I’m not sold that a sign will be THAT solution!!
Thanks for sharing your insight, Kevin! Do you have any other ideas?
– Lori
Some kind of tamper proof system that screams bloody murder every time a door is propped open with a video cam to document the scum that did it.
Hi Ron –
Good idea, but probably too expensive to be feasible for most locations. 🙂
– Lori
Fire releasing Mag hold open 24 VDC power supply, Relay, Mag Holder and lots of $$$$
Capital Punishment comes to mind….. but that may be politically incorrect!!! :-):-)
That would be pretty motivational, I think. 🙂
– Lori
In Australia, all fire & smoke doors are required to have signage FIRE DOOR – DO NOT OBSTRUCT, DO NOT KEEP OPEN (National Construction Code/ Building Code of Australia vol.1 D2.23)
Exemptions are electromagnetically held open with release (smoke detectors within 1.5m either side of door portal) and these have FIRE DOOR – DO NOT OBSTRUCT.
Sign letters must be min.30% colour contrast to background.
That’s great information – thanks Ian!
– Lori
It’s a good idea! But, I don’t think the label/bar code would do much more other than if used as maintenance for identifying door inspections or rated assemblies. Most people ignore the current label s already required for the rated assembly. Education is the best solution and should be done by the owners and not by the AHJ’s all the time.
Hi Donnie –
A lot of fire door inspectors label the doors they have inspected with a label that has a QR code or bar code on it. That way, when they return the next year they can scan the label and find the door in their system. I don’t think most people notice the labels on the door edge, but the facility manager who brought this up is thinking about applying the labels in a visible location near the lock/strike.
– Lori
If you add “$250 fine” and have it enforced through the Courts then you might see a difference!
A facility could definitely do that…I doubt we could get it enforced in court but a facility could have their own consequences.
– Lori
Lori, more people would understand a sign like your example vs. a fire label (how many people have ever even looked at the edge of a door they pass through every day?) Even if its not 100 % effective, I believe it could make difference!
Thanks Robert! I agree – who looks at fire door labels??
– Lori
Lori.
Anything is better than nothing, maybe we should look at it like, if one person read one label, and by being informed by reading that label, that label and that person newly informed actions saved even just one life that would be worth the all the effort in the world!
That’s what I’m thinking too, James! 🙂
– Lori
Lori,
I like the idea of the QR code. However, the link that this QR Code goes to should be a very plain spoken web page that says something like “Do not prop this door open, your life depends on it!!!” or link it to a video that is very short and shows what could happen if a fire door is open during a fire. I am saying this as the people that are propping the doors open are probably not going to have the attention span or willingness to spend time reading a long post on a webpage. The explanation linked to by the QR code needs to be quick and to the point.
I agree, Daniel. There’s a big difference between what I would say to someone in the industry about fire door compliance and how I would handle it with the average building occupant. But just think about if teenagers got curious about the QR code and learned a little bit about fire doors…it could really increase the level of understanding of their purpose.
– Lori
The label does kind of beg the question, why are people propping these doors open? Daily, in some cases according to the comments? Perhaps the chronically-propped doors should be fitted with magnetic holders, or maybe there are locks on them that should be unlocked. Stickers are cheaper, and could be effective and educational, but specific, physical solutions are more likely to change behavior.
You are exactly right, Vivian! When I was specifying hardware, I would always try to figure out how the door would be used, to try to avoid these situations by specifying the right hardware. It’s waaaaay more expensive to fix it after the fact, hence the popularity of the wood wedge.
– Lori
There are a variety of good answers here. In my experience, one needs to try and identify the illogical reason that building occupants are deranging building safety systems if you can. Some excuses can seem lame but when considered are the root causes. For example, I asked to a nurse to demonstrate why she cannot operate a door in a firewall between the corridor and her department carrying objects. She convinced me We installed a fire system door release magnet. Working the program this way gradually greatly reduced the problems. Once we addressed problems in this way, we corrected a safety problem and an inspection deficiency. I often found it more effective physically eliminate the problem rather than trying to modify behaviors of staff. My administrators were very supportive of increased building safety and of not having to deal with inspection deficiencies. We were not pushovers for just obstructive folks.
For some folks, no number of labels or warnings is sufficient to dissuade them from deranging safety equipment if it suits them. Human nature? In repeated cases, it was always up to us to find and notify the head of the area involved of the importance of any safety equipment in their area and I had a pet phrase to leave them with: “Now, I told you. Don’t create a safety and inspection problem for the Hospital.”
All the fire and smoke doors in the facilities had a prominent red, engraved sign affixed about eye level if possible, announcing the door was either a fire door or smoke door. Orientation education hit these subjects hard.
These measures seemed to be effective. This process was like changing out all the incandescent exit lights (1,000 of them) to LED lighted fixtures which changed an inherently weak safety item into one where reliability was vastly improved (only 4 lights out after 3 years of operation – one knocked to the floor by an IV rod!) No exit light deficiencies for a few years.
When one is talking to people who we do not really know about a safety concern or deliberately ignore it, we tend to not be firm. Where safety is concerned, communication needs to be bold and to the point.
The ramblings of an 80 year old. Thomas Wolfe the author called e-mailing a modern form of knitting.
I love your ramblings, Jerry! Keep ’em coming! You have a lot of great insight to share!
– Lori
In a hospital environment, it is critical for staff to be able to understand the difference between smoke doors, fire doors, and horizontal exits. As a “defend in place” occupancy” staff needs to understand the layers of safety provided by the building envelope in the event patients need to be evacuated, most usually horizontally, then vertically.
The simplest and easiest system I have ever seen for staff to understand and comprehend was to simply paint the head of door frames different colors depending upon their intended life safety function. For example, smoke door frames painted blue, horizontal exit door frames painted red. Staff were trained for smoke or fire their first move was to transport patients from the existing smoke compartment through a blue door and into a new smoke compartment. If they needed to continue evacuation their next move was to transport their patients through a red door into a new fire compartment.
If all hospitals followed this simple color scheme it would greatly simplify awareness and education, especially when staff change employers, and for floaters, per diem staff, temp employees, etc.
Consistent industry-wide practices tend to result in the highest level of compliance.
Interesting! Do you know of any hospitals that are currently doing this?
– Lori
Have any studies been done on the extent to which people prop open or vandalize fire doors which lack any hold-open devices, versus fire doors that have built-in thermal-release hold-open devices of the types that used to be commonplace? A closed door will obviously do a better job at controlling smoke than a door which is open until a temperature-sensitive hold-open device releases, but a hold-open device with an integrated temperature sensor and smoke detector could do a better job of controlling fire than a door which is propped open by a kick wedge.
People don’t prop open fire doors for the fun of it. They prop open fire doors because the automatic closers interfere with the primary purposes of the doorways. If there were more affordable and practical code-approved ways of holding doors open when there is no fire, there would be less need for people to hold open doors via other means.
Hi John –
I don’t know of any studies, but it definitely helps to have code-compliant hold-open devices. Unfortunately they are sometimes missed when the building is built (not all fire doors need holders), and they can be quite expensive to add later.
– Lori
I’ve been in an architecture school before where the stair door was propped open with a fire extinguisher, so I guess knowledge doesn’t guarantee better actions 🙂 but I do like the idea of a simple label like this, because some people really don’t know. And even if one label caused one door to be closed during a fire, it could save lives!
Believe it or not – I graduated from architectural school and we had zero instruction on fire doors!
– Lori
More on the $250 fine. Park in a Handicap zone where a person is inconvenienced and be assured of fine. Endanger more than one person by leaving fire doors open…oh well!