I originally wrote this post back in 2020, and there is an update!  The Von Duprin QEL quiet electric latch retraction feature is now listed to UL 294, to accommodate systems where the listing is required.  It’s not a common application, but at the end of the post I included an example.

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I’ve written about UL 294 – Standard for Access Control System Units several times in the past, but the questions keep coming.  Here’s today’s question:

Is the UL 294 listing required by the model codes for panic hardware with the electric latch retraction / electric dogging feature (EL/QEL)?

The short answer: Very rarely, but it’s a possibility (read on)

UL 294 is a listing that is required by code for SOME TYPES of access control systems (not all types).  Currently, the International Building Code (IBC) requires the listing for special locking arrangements with electromagnetic locks (sensor release or door hardware release), delayed egress locks, controlled egress locks in health care facilities, and elevator lobby egress doors with fail safe locks.  NFPA 101 – Life Safety Code requires the listing for those systems, as well as for stairwell doors with fail safe hardware to accommodate stairwell reentry.

The UL 294 listing is not required by the model codes for access control systems where the reader controls access but the hardware allows free egress – just like mechanical hardware would.  For example, if a door has an electric strike with a storeroom function lockset, the inside lever handle allows free egress.  If a stair door has fire exit hardware with electrified trim that allows stairwell reentry during a fire, the fire exit hardware touchpad on the egress side allows free egress at all times.  These examples of “normal locking arrangements” are not required by the model codes to have the UL 294 listing.  A 2024 change to the I-Codes has clarified this.

The 2024 I-Codes also clarified that the listing requirement applies to the electromechanical or electromagnetic locking hardware in the systems listed above (not to every component), and an acceptable alternative listing has been added to the code:  UL 1034 – Standard for Safety for Burglary-Resistant Electric Locking Mechanisms.  Some electrified hardware is DEFINITELY required by the current model codes to have the UL 294 or UL 1034 listing because it is ALWAYS used in the systems that require the listings.  These products include electromagnetic locks, delayed egress locks, and controlled egress locks.

Some electrified hardware MIGHT be used in the systems that require the listing – like a controlled egress system or an elevator lobby system.  If a particular piece of hardware will be used in one of these systems, it will need the UL 294 or UL 1034 listing; if the hardware is being used in a normal locking arrangement, the listing is not required.  Products that might be used in one of these systems include electromechanical locks, electrified lever trim for panic hardware, and electric strikes.

Electric latch retraction hardware is typically used either for controlled access/free egress, or to release the latch on an automatic door.  It would not typically be used in any of the systems that are required by the model codes to have the UL 294 or UL 1034 listing.  However, there is one application that has crossed my desk several times – a fire door with an automatic operator, that also needs delayed egress or controlled egress locking hardware. 

For example, a cross-corridor fire door in a hospital would often have an automatic operator with electric latch retraction fire exit hardware to allow the auto operator to open the door.  If the door also has a delayed egress or controlled egress system, the electromechanical or electromagnetic locks that are part of that system would need the UL 294 or UL 1034 listing.  Although the electric latch retraction panic hardware would not really be part of the delayed egress or controlled egress system, it is often considered all one system since it’s all on the same door.

Can you think of an application where the model codes would require electric latch retraction panic hardware to have the UL 294 listing?

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