In January of this year, a bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Representative Ted Poe of Texas. On September 7th, the House Judiciary Committee voted to advance this bill - H.R. 620...
Security bars or grilles are common on windows in many developing countries and in other areas where security is a major concern...
This makes me wonder what incident prompted the need to control which leaf is used for entrance/egress - especially on full-glass doors...
In order for a fire door assembly to perform as designed and tested, it's critical for the door to be closed and latched if/when a fire occurs...
Thank you to Curtis Meskus for these Wordless Wednesday photos. This pair leads to a storage room in a motel. I have a feeling these will show up in one of my nightmares sometime soon.
Have you seen the new website from the Door Security & Safety Foundation - LockDontBlock.org?
This morning I was reading an article about an exit problem at the Mineta San Jose International Airport in California...
What led to this "fix"? Any theories?
NFPA 80 – Standard for Fire Doors and Other Opening Protectives, classifies openings protected by fire door assemblies in one of five categories...
Derrick Riding sent me today's Wordless Wednesday photo of a hold-open device on a fire door (note the painted label)...
On Thursday, September 14th, Allegion will be offering a free 1-hour webinar on access control hardware - at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Eastern.
This post has a lot going on. First, since it's Fixed-it Friday and I don't want to disappoint anyone, here's a photo from Bill Stock of Johnson Hardware...
There are a couple of great resources for finding out more information about the state code requirements as well as the model codes and referenced standards.
I give up. Not really. I will never give up.
An iDigHardware reader needs your help identifying this lock! Any ideas?
I answered this question a couple of years ago as part of a longer post, but people continue to ask so here goes... "How much clearance do the accessibility standards require behind a door pull?"
Wrapping up my summer road trip through Guatemala, here are a few Fixed-it Friday photos - and a question.
I was contacted last week by a door and hardware distributor who has provided fire door assemblies with hollow metal frames and wood doors on a hospital project...
Continuing with the Guatemalan theme (until tomorrow when I have a fire door question for you), I encountered this in a public restroom...
As I promised yesterday, here are a few doors from my recent trip to Guatemala. We saw so many amazing doors - big ones, small ones, ornate doors and utilitarian doors, lots of wicket doors, cool door knockers and other hardware...
You may or may not have noticed, I have been on vacation with my kids in Guatemala for the last 2 weeks. I wrote all of my blog posts and articles before I left...
This is not the intended use of this device. Anyone know what it's for?
Have you ever noticed a sign stating the maximum occupant load of a room? How about a sign stating that the maximum occupant load is 49 people? I've seen several signs stating the 49-person limit, and I recently received a question that made me ponder this...
I. Have. No. Words.
In yesterday's post, I wrote about power-assist operators to clarify that these are not the same as low-energy automatic operators. This 2-part question arose from a misconception that "power-assist" is the same thing as "Push 'N Go."
This is Part 1 of a 2-part question, so check tomorrow's post for Part 2. First, I'd like to clarify what defines a power-assist operator...
In the case shown in today's Fixed-it Friday photo, a retail store has implemented this creative hold-open because of an assault that occurred in their public restroom...
Without proper planning, parking garages can present security and life-safety challenges. People who are authorized to use the parking area – or unauthorized people who are able to enter an open parking garage – may attempt to gain access to other floors of the building...
The most amazing thing about today's Wordless Wednesday photos is that the panic hardware has been installed this way for YEARS, and on a fast-food restaurant!
In this school it appears that by preventing access to the courtyard, the school is not required to provide free egress from the courtyard...
What is "selected reentry" and when can it be used?
I'm in Guatemala! I'm on the hunt for some beautiful and/or interesting Guatemalan doors to share with you, but until then, here are some doors from a recent trip to Phoenix...
I told you we were going to have fun this week, right? Well, what could be more fun than a quiz to help you learn about codes? :D But first, I have to tell you something...
This is amazing. Really. You can see ALL of the beautiful photos and read the story here on Bored Panda, but these are a few of my favorite door-related images from the article...
As I mentioned yesterday, today is my 50th birthday. It seems like a day that I should spend reflecting on my life so far, and planning what to do with the next 50 years. And eating cake...
Tomorrow is my birthday. Not just any birthday - my 50th! The other day someone said to me, "Don't worry! 50 is the new 70!!!" What???
These photos, from Kelly Reese of Allegion, qualify for the double-whammy - Wordless Wednesday AND Fixed-it Friday. But don't worry...it is indeed Friday! Have a great weekend!
Last week a code official contacted me because he had seen some egress doors in a school that were equipped with sensor bars used to release electromagnetic locks...
Why is it that when something goes wrong with the existing hardware, some facilities use the hardware equivalent of a band-aid rather than repairing or replacing the hardware?
Last week, 3 lives were lost in a fire that occurred in a residential high-rise in Honolulu, Hawaii. Although the cause is not yet known...
As I've mentioned in previous posts, shortly after the NFPA Technical Meeting on June 7th, two appeals were filed. These appeals were submitted in favor of keeping the proposed changes to NFPA 101 that would allow 2 releasing operations instead of 1...
Ian Baren of Katonah Architectural Hardware sent me today's Fixed-it Friday photo. This mortise lock is on a very fancy clothing store, and apparently it was an aesthetic problem for someone that the gasketing did not continue down the lock face. So they drew it in with a Sharpie! You'd think that if they were going to go to the trouble, they would have used a straight-edge!
Joseph Hendry Jr., PSP, CLEE has written the guest blog post below, to share his experience in law enforcement regarding human behavior in an emergency. This relates directly to the question of whether NFPA 101 should continue to limit egress doors to one releasing operation or should allow two operations to release the latch.
"At around 8:45 p.m., Captain Michael Flot of the New Orleans Fire Department faced an angry crowd of hundreds outside of the Essence Superlounge to tell them they would not be able to see Xscape that night. 'This is the worst I've ever seen it,' Flot said."
Imagine this...you have a single restroom where the property manager wants to install an automatic operator for easier access to the restroom (or to overcome a maneuvering clearance problem)...
It's that time of year again, when lots of people go on vacation - remember the road trips I used to drag all of you on? This summer I'm taking the kids to Guatemala, so I don't know how many interesting doors we'll see...
This is why doors are required to provide free egress. Even doors used by very few people, leading to tiny rooms that may need more security than the average closet.
From Security InfoWatch, an article on a recent congressional briefing by advocates for safe and secure schools...
Rich McKie sent me today's Wordless Wednesday photo of a high school lobby, which was being prepared for a "Dry Grad" overnight graduation party coordinated by a parent committee...
To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of change; I like predictability. I know that might surprise some of you, but I’m more apt to live by the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” In case some of you are change-averse like me, I want to tell you about a change that is happening today.
