RU@ISC?
I got this text message this morning, and alas, I'm not at the ISC West show in Las Vegas. If you're not at the show either, you can still visit the Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies booth there.
Panic Fail
I tend to notice hardware on TV and movies (just ask my family!), but this video is probably the best (worst) example I've seen of doors gone bad for the sake of TV production. It was sent in by Eyal Bedrik of Entry Systems Ltd. in Israel. The commercial is in Hebrew but the panic fail transcends the language barrier. Watch closely and stick with it for the whole 66 seconds.
The Rest of the Story…
The other day I posted some photos of a fire door that had done its job and prevented a fire from spreading. Several of you emailed me about the photos, because they're SUCH a great illustration of what a fire door is for. It's easy to imagine what would have happened if it was propped open. Well, this morning I received even more photos of the same building (the Robert Moses Nature Center), from Bill Johnson of the Door Security and Safety Foundation, and this afternoon I received a link to a news article from Jerry Heppes of the Door & Hardware Institute. Thanks guys!!
Faulty Fire Doors in the News
I've been doing some research for my FDAI presentation, looking for specific examples of how the inspection of fire doors and correction of deficiencies can have a direct impact on life safety as well as the protection of property. It's not very often that you see fire doors in the news, but these two recent examples showed up over the holidays:
Trick or Tweet
Ellen DeGeneres cracks me up - even though she never talks about doors and I never have time to watch her show any more. Recently, Ellen and I became Facebook friends, so I get random status updates from her show which often include videos. I happened upon a video of when she sent one of her writers through a haunted house, and about 25 seconds into the video, I noticed a set of emergency exit doors (which have LCN 4110s and Von Duprin 99s if I'm not mistaken). Yes, I do realize that I'm a weirdo, but you should know that by now.
Von Duprin QEL Device
I visited a jobsite today and saw some QEL devices in action. If you're not familiar with the QEL device, it is a *quiet* version of the electric latch retraction exit device. When the access control system (card reader, key fob, etc.) signals the door to unlock, the latch(es) retract to allow someone to pull the door open. You can always exit by pushing the touchpad. I have used the QEL device on several high-profile spaces where noise is an issue. I recently specified them for auditoriums at the United States Institute of Peace and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, where the latches are held retracted while the auditorium is unlocked. As you can see in the video below, the touchpads are also held in while the latches are retracted so there will be no sound associated with exiting while the doors are unlocked.
LAX Egress
It's not very often that I see a news report about egress doors that don't meet code requirements. Considering the prevalence of the problem, it's amazing to me that it doesn't get more publicity, but then again, I'm a little more focused on the problem than the average citizen.
Tiny Closer
I think these are about the tiniest closers I've ever seen. One was obviously not enough to get the bathroom door closed, so another one was added. The door still wouldn't close, so the closer was flipped around and mounted the opposite way. The door STILL wouldn't close, AND the sound of the closers was horrendous! (video evidence below)
Bear Break
I'm working on the next post about smoke but this has been an extremely busy week.
Glass Door Fails
I'm not a big fan of glass doors because the options for hardware are so limited, but they do supply some interesting fail moments. You'd think that after multiple people ran into the same sidelite, they'd stick on some fake snowflakes or something...
Triangle Factory Fire – 99 Years Ago Today
The fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City on March 25th, 1911, claimed 146 lives - mostly young immigrant women. Building owners locked the exit doors to keep the workers in and the union organizers out, so when a fire broke out on the 8th floor it was impossible for some of the 600+ workers on the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors to escape. The fire escape was not sufficient to hold the number of fleeing occupants, and collapsed. Firefighters' ladders were several stories too short, and water from the fire hoses could not reach the upper floors of the building. Sixty workers jumped to their deaths.
Stephens Court, Calcutta India
This building in Calcutta was involved in a fatal fire today, with 24 deaths reported so far and additional people still missing. The top floors of the building had been added illegally, but the building owner paid a fine and all was forgiven. The fire department reportedly had never inspected the building.
Interlocks
I went to see an architect on Friday, for what I thought would be a 2-hour meeting to discuss the security requirements for a new project. 3 1/2 hours later (time flies when you're talking about hardware!) I emerged to the sunlight (and the parking ticket), after literally resorting to cheerleading to get the architect through one more floor of the building (Her: "Lori, my brain hurts." Me: "Come on! You can do it!!").
Parkside West Fire
Last Tuesday night, approximately fifty people were left homeless by a fire at the Parkside West Apartments in New London, Connecticut, which apparently began on a stove in a 3rd-story apartment. One of the newspaper accounts of the fire investigation reported that the fire marshal stated "in the third-floor apartment where the fire is believed to have started, a weatherstrip prevented the door from closing, allowing smoke to spread."
Survey Q2: “What is the purpose of a fire door?”
This is the 2nd post in a series about fire doors and the results of a recent survey.
Falcon 8200 Series Auto Operator
It seems like I should know all about myself now that I'm in my (early!) 40's, but I recently learned that the way I learn best is from a live demonstration or a video. As soon as I start trying to read about something, my mind is off in a hundred directions, but put the same information in a video and I'm right there.
Cover Up!!
Back in the day, before my restaurant choices were based on whether the establishment offered crayons, chicken nuggets, and a giant mouse or talking tree, I used to frequent a local cantina. The "naked" door closer on their ladies room door drove me nuts, so one night I showed up with a closer cover, screws, and a set of hex wrenches. As you can probably imagine, they looked at me like I had two heads and made me hand everything over to the bartender.
Shear Locks in Action
One of the disadvantages of a shear lock is the noise associated with locking/unlocking. This post has a video of the operation of a shear lock.
Schlage LiNK
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.
Colonial Williamsburg
Yesterday we decided that there was still too much to see so we can't go home just yet. We haven't run out of clean clothes, so why not? We spent the entire day taking in the sights of Colonial Williamsburg, without a thrill ride or water slide in sight. I saw so many interesting doors that I made them into a short slide show for your viewing pleasure:
Cycle Testing
We're in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and the good news is that the specwriter Chip and I came to see has agreed to include Falcon exit devices in his specifications! Yippee!
Dormitory Locks
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.
Glass Doors with Electric Strikes
I'm currently working on several projects that have glass doors in walls that are acting as 1-hour fire barriers with closely-spaced sprinkler heads above the glass. The problem with this application from a hardware standpoint is that the Blumcraft, CR Laurence, and Dorma Glas panic hardware that is typically used on glass doors does not have active trim (like a lever handle) to retract the latch from the secure side. To unlock these doors, you would typically use the dogging feature of the panic device to leave the doors in a push/pull condition, but because they require positive latching, dogging is not an option. I have searched the world over for a solution to this problem, but the only possibility I've found so far is using fail secure electric strikes to release the latches. Unfortunately, this application is extremely noisy, as illustrated by the video below. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear from you.