Break-glass door locks

[Ken Taylor]

To keep you up-to-date, the School had a recent visit from London FB (LFEPA) and they weren't at all concerned with the type of locks provided that they work when needed.

[messy]

However London were not so keen on a charity run mental health rehabilitation unit where the glass tubes had been replaced by a yellow painted mild steel tube, complete with a metal 'pull ring' welded to it. The tube was easily removable by pulling the ring. This was seen as a cost effective way to prevent self harm by service users by broken tubes using an in house workshop.

Full signed instructions, daily (logged) inspections and regular staff training could not convince LFB this was appropriate, so despite these locks 'working when they were needed' the charity had to shell out hundereds of (valuable) ££s relacing with an alternative system.

No wonder the punters get confused sometimes. So do I

[Ken Taylor]

I know what you mean Messy. I have heard and experienced this about fire officers, environmental health officers, building inspectors, health and safety officers and lawyers for years - if you get two of them together you hear at least three opinions.

[Simon Morriss]

Messy

What a great idea!!  On what grounds did London not like them?  As we move to the RRO we risk assess it and then if it works and will not stop egress what is the problem.

[Guest]

The trouble with RA, the RRO and all the rest is that non prescriptive standards lead to just the sort of inconsistent advice/enforcement that you are talking about. Many senior commercial spokespersons are now trying the line that British Standards are too restrictive and being copper bottomed should only be specified in the rarest of occasions. Of course many of their member firms sit on the BS Committees that draft these standards and now that the Government has dismantled the HMI which represented the government view. They may have had their faults but at least they were nominally impartial. I'm getting on my soapbox now, but the Government is slowly abdicating their responsibility to set minimum standards in favour of laissez-faire. Leave it to the Courts to decide whether a standard was acceptable or not. That's if Fire Authorities can afford to keep risking their ratepayers money.
Call it benchmarking, prescription, basic standards, kitemark or what you like...guidance is essential.