Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States, with over 31,000 people taking their life annually. 1,500 suicides occur annually in hospitals (1); it is also the leading cause of death while incarcerated (2). Ligature strangulation (hanging) is the primary means used to end one’s life in these environments.
This post was printed in the March 2011 issue of Doors & Hardware
Who says hardware can't be romantic?! In honor of Valentines Day, I present to you a tradition that began in the 1980s in Pécs, Hungary (or maybe in Italy depending on which version of the story you believe), and has spread to cities across the globe. It seems that sweethearts are attaching padlocks to bridges, statues, fences, and other structures to express their love. My pragmatic side wonders whether the structures can handle the extra weight of this quantity of padlocks, and whether people go back and take their padlock off when they break up, but since it's Valentines Day I'll just let you all feel the love.
I don't get involved with residential construction very often, but a local locksmith recently asked about the use of double-cylinder deadlocks on single family homes. His position is that he will not install them, but he was looking for a code reference to back him up.
I received these photos last week and I didn't have much advice...maybe someone else does. These are classroom doors in a school for autistic children, and the extra locksets are due to the special needs of the students. The students are unable to retract both latches at the same time (if they can even reach the upper lockset). While this keeps the children in the classroom (a good thing), it also prevents egress (a bad thing).
At least once a month someone asks me whether it's ok to use a deadbolt with a thumbturn on a door that is required to be accessible. It took some digging to get a definitive answer, because the accessibility standards don't specify a certain dimension that would be acceptable for the thumbturn. The ADA guidelines and ICC A117.1 both state that hardware has to be operable without tight grasping, pinching, or twisting of the wrist, but that still leaves a lot up to interpretation.
This application came across my desk last week and for the life of me I couldn't think of where someone would use it. I don't remember ever being asked for a rim cylinder with a thumbturn, and people ask me for all kinds of random things.
Yesterday I spent a few hours auditing a class on the Schlage AD-Series Electronic Locks. If you haven't seen this lock yet, you should go to the website and take a look. The whole idea behind it is that it's adaptable. You can change the type of credential reader (keypad, mag-stripe, proximity/Smart Card/Multi-Tech reader) , the function (classroom/storeroom, office, apartment, privacy), or even the level of access control (offline, networked, wireless), and the changes can be made without taking the lock off the door. So you install a stand-alone keypad lock today...tomorrow you can change it to a networked wireless lock with a Smart Card reader, and only the credential reader and inside escutchen need to be replaced. The rest of the change is accomplished with free firmware.
I got a call this week from a facility that needed to replace existing locksets with an anti-ligature product. If you're not familiar with anti-ligature hardware, it's designed for use in mental health or detention facilities, to help protect patients or inmates from self-harm by minimizing the attachment points on the hardware. Anti-ligature hardware is just one part of a safe environment for facilities with special needs, along with tamper-proof plumbing, mechanical, and electrical devices, break-away shower rods and bars, impact-resistant glass and mirrors, etc.
A couple of months ago I did a post about the new aged bronze finish - BHMA 643e. A local architect commented that he had been looking for a finish similar to the base metal that you see after US10B finish rubs off. I can't walk away from a challenge, so I called Frascio International to see what they could do.
A couple of days ago, one of our specwriters asked about a closer on a door with rescue hardware, and another specwriter advised him to use a double-acting closer. I was surprised to learn that they weren't aware of my FAVORITE LCN special template - ST-1895.
It's funny how some things stick in your mind, and even funnier that I have "hardware memories" from way back. I remember a rumor going around my 7th grade Home Ec class that another class had locked our teacher, Mrs. Cross, out of the classroom, and that she had cried. So sad!
The other day, one of my friends asked me about the new Schlage LiNK, which is a remote access system that connects you to your home from anywhere via cell phone or computer. With the monthly subscription and Z-Wave enabled products, you can remotely control and monitor your door locks, check on your pets with live video, turn lights on and off, and control and monitor your home's heating and cooling system.
Some projects require lever designs for locksets and panic hardware that are beyond the selection of standard "vanilla" levers offered by all of the commercial manufacturers. In some cases, even the "European" designs don't fill the bill, especially when special finishes are desired. I've often run into this with museum projects I've specified.
If you haven't seen the new Schlage AD Series Electronic Lock, you can check it out at Schlage.com - just click any of the graphics on this post. Don't you think it's time for me to go on another road trip? I can take an AD Series lock with me this time. :-)
During Chip Falcon's Road Trip we visited Colonial Williamsburg, and you may have seen my slideshow of the doors and hardware there. I received quite a few questions from readers about the hardware at CW, so I sent an email to the Architectural Research Department there and I got a return email from Mr. Kenneth Schwarz, whose title is Blacksmith, Master of the Shop. Ken has been a wonderful source of information about the hardware at CW, and I'm looking forward to meeting him and hopefully getting a behind-the-scenes tour the next time I'm there.
Years ago, glass doors were commonly locked with a deadlock in the bottom rail. Many of these doors are still in use, but in order to comply with current codes, I don't recommend the use of a bottom rail deadlock on most new projects.
I didn't want to scare anyone by adding more information to my previous post about stairwell re-entry, but I do get questions about how to accomplish this. The stairwell re-entry requirements state that the stair side lever must unlock on fire alarm or on a signal from the fire command station depending on the code (there is always free egress from the non-stair side). I have seen stair doors that had been retrofitted with card readers and electric strikes. If these doors are required by code to meet the stairwell re-entry requirements, an electric strike is not an acceptable way to do this.
The locking requirements for roof doors are a bit of a gray area, due to the varied preferences of local code officials. In most cases, the roof door can be locked on the interior side, preventing access to the roof. It is very rare (except in movies) that the egress plan for the building includes going to the roof for helicopter access. If the roof was part of the egress path, the roof would have to be maintained as an egress route, snow removed, etc.
The hot topic of last week was how to handle locks on dormitory entrance doors, since the students have figured out how to reach under the door with a coat hanger and pull down the lever to unlock the door. There's a minute+ of bad video below to illustrate the procedure, as reenacted by a couple of college boys. The video has already been viewed 1,419 times by students who need help with their coat hanger technique, so the problem is bound to get bigger.
I've been asked this question so many times you'd think I'd know the answer by now. By the way...the photo at left doesn't have much to do with the question, I just think it's funny.
One of the top 5 questions which I receive almost weekly is regarding the replacement of a 5'-wide equal pair with a 3'+2' unequal pair. Because automatic flush bolts and a coordinator can be problematic, and most panic hardware will not fit on a 2' wide door, I'm constantly being asked if it's ok to use manual flush bolts on the 2' leaf. That's a tough question to answer because the code-compliant solution isn't the best application as far as function and durability. The IBC (2003) says this:
One of our customers sent me this photo last week. It was found on a psychiatric facility and to operate it, a staff member must be present and holding the bolt projected via the lever. I did my best to track down a manufacturer with no luck. It's possible that it was made in a machine shop or that it is no longer available, but my first thought when I saw it was that I need to buy 3 for my kids' rooms and then find 3 suckers to stand there holding the bolts projected. ;-)
Tactile warning is an abrasive or knurled strip on a lever handle to indicate that the door leads to a hazardous area such as a boiler room, mechanical room, or loading dock. This requirement is no longer included in the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) or in ICC/ANSI A117.1, but it is a requirement of the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board (521 CMR):
