Over the past 10 years I have devoted a lot of time and attention to ensuring that security devices used on classroom doors are safe as well as secure. When classroom barricade devices were introduced to the market, I felt confident that the adopted codes developed over the last 100+ years would continue to protect building occupants. I was wrong.
Well, not 100% wrong, but some states proposed legislation to allow schools to use security devices that did not comply with the adopted codes. Ohio was one of the states that passed legislation requiring code officials to remove many of the safety requirements from the state codes in order to allow classroom barricade devices.
Fortunately, only a handful of states enacted similar legislation, but in those states, some schools have implemented classroom barricade devices as a common practice. It came as no surprise (but did leave me wordless) when I received a news story from Channel 10 WBNS about students in a Colombus, Ohio school being locked in their classrooms with barricade devices.
According to the teachers interviewed by Channel 10, the barricade devices were being used to prevent elopement. This has become a very common issue in schools, as some students may try to leave the classroom – or the building – unaccompanied. In some cases, elopements from schools have ended tragically.
There isn’t a quick fix to the elopement problem. The model code requirements that protect the means of egress would not permit “solutions” like installing an additional lock or moving the hardware to a mounting height that is out of reach of the students. Exit alarms would be an acceptable option, and since 2018 the I-Codes have allowed delayed egress locks on doors serving classrooms with an occupant load of less than 50 people.
In the few states where “temporary locking devices” (AKA classroom barricade devices) are allowed by state legislation, they are only intended to be used during an active shooter event. Given the challenge of elopement and the presence of a barricade device in a classroom, it could be tempting to use the device to secure the doors during normal operation. As the teachers mentioned in the interview, with the device in place, it would be difficult or impossible for school staff or emergency responders to enter the classroom if needed.
For more information on the concerns surrounding classroom barricade devices, refer to this Decoded article. I also spoke about school security and safety on Paul Timm’s podcast: The Changing Face of School Security.
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This is where politicians who are TOTALLY CLUELESS on SAFETY issues just don’t get it!!! It would be interesting to know if any of them have “relatives” who own or have stock in the companies who supplied the SAFETY devices!! They most definitely are NOT doing anything for SAFETY!! There’s that word again!! If you add the word SAFETY to any discussion, people will gravitate to vote for the one SAFETY device and negate all the other SAFETY devices that have been working for decades!!!
Hi Kevin –
Exactly! When a bill to allow classroom barricade devices was passed in Arkansas, the media reported that several state politicians, including a state senator, were investors in the barricade device company.
https://idighardware.com/2015/03/ww-meanwhile-in-arkansas/
– Lori
Out of curiosity, do you have a list of all of the states that have passed legislation to allow non code compliant barricade devices?
Hi Austin –
I don’t have a current list, but I know at one time there were state laws or local ordinances in Ohio, Michigan, Utah, Arkansas, and Kansas. There may be a few others, or the original laws that allowed the devices might have changed.
– Lori