lecture theatres

[CivvyFSO]

Alternatively:

Peg the door open
or
Inform the occupants of the more suitable exits
or
Steward the door
or
Small lobby around the door, peg to door open and have an outward opening door to the lobby as in pubs
or
Walk away and tell the person it is their duty to comply etc and they can ring a consultant to sort it out for them for a price
or
Run away and deny ever being there
or
Log on to Firenet and ask for a multitude of opinions

There are inherent problems with all of these. Especially the Firenet one.

[Pip]

Evacuation shouldnt just be a free for all. We need some management or stewardship to make sure people are directed where to go and which exit to use in these circumstances.

Yes-good point!

[Pip]

Just to throw another spanner in the works Civvy, what if the inward opening door is the door tha most of the occupants used to enter the room? Oooh bloomin flippin eck I've opened up a can of worms here...my sincere apologies to everyone!

Clearly the whole building needs to be sprinklered.

Happy now?

no-property or life ,or both,fast or slow response?:-)

[CivvyFSO]

no-property or life ,or both,fast or slow response?:-)

Both obviously. Fast and slow. And some medium, "just in case".

[Ken Taylor]

Here's a quote from the old BB7:

'All doors across escape routes (except from rooms or spaces having less than 60 occupants, calculated according to the notes to Table 1) should open in the direction of escape or swing both ways.

At least I knew where I was in schools in those days!

[PhilB]

Yes Ken but of course schools have their own special considerations ....not sure about swinging both ways though is that allowed in schools these days???

[CivvyFSO]

Swinging both ways? Allowed? In these days of equality and diversity it is almost preferred!!

[saddlers]

I believe the issue would be slightly different in schools, because you have the potential for the escape to be as a group, with the group being lead by the teacher. Therefore you would potentially end up with a class/group being lead to a single door, you also have the fact that in a school situation we are dealing with minors as opposed to adults.

Believe me when I say I am not an advocate of multiple inward opening doors in all situations, and would assess each situation on its merits, but as a professional I have to use national guidance as a start point/benchmark, and as far as I can see it suggests this to be acceptable.

If you had a room with four inward opening doors, would you really limit the occupancy to 60 persons? surely the risk is per door and common sense says 150 people will not move towards a single door.

[Mike Buckley]

Unfortunately the common sense that applies when you are sitting behind a desk looking at a proposal rarely bears any resemblance to the common sense that applies when people are trying to escape from an emergency. A large number deaths in theatres, night clubs and schools testifies to this.

[PhilB]

Yes Mike but this was not one of those types of buildings, it was a lecture theatre, entirely different scenario.

[CivvyFSO]

Sprinkler it.

[PhilB]

and swing both ways...don't forget that!!!

[CivvyFSO]

Swinging in the rain?

[ps]

Thanks again guys for all the advice and views, I've thorougly enjoyed reading it all and have learnt a lot!

Thought you may be interested in the outcome...My initial view hasn't changed, I've asked for the doors to be changed around on the basis that:

Its fairly cheap (reasonably practicable) and I couldn't think of a good reason not to, and the possiblity of a crush seemed a fairly good reason to do it!
I can't rely on stewards being present whenever the theatre is in use.
The uni is a veritable laberynth. The most likely place for any fire to start is not in the lecture theatre itself, but in other locations around. Fire in any one of these could potentially deny access to one of these doors, meaning a full house heading for maybe three doors. People being people, they will generally head for the door through which they came, which may mean they all head for one door.Therefore my (albeit inexpereinced logic) tells me they all need to open outwards.

Thanks again for all the input!

[wee brian]

Good - well done