I have recently visited a 4 storey student halls of residence building which consists of two lobby protected stairwells and provides accomodation for approx 100 students. The front entrance to the main stair is fitted with a mag lock and has an everday use switch and green BGU and is linked to the fire alarm - no issues.
However the final fire exit from the fire escape stair was commonly used by students to nip out and have a smoke and would not close the exit door correctly behind them. This lead to a string of incidents where youths from a nearby estate were niping in and helping themselves.
A mag lock was fitted to this final fire exit door which is linked to the fire alarm system to fail but with no everday use switch or green BGU or link to fail safe upon power failure. The idea being to prevent this exit from being opened unless in a fire situation. The mag lock is tested weekly during the weekly fire alarm test to ensure it fails safe and a fire alarm BGU is located adjacent to the exit which would open the door if the fire alarm was yet to sound. A staff manual overide is also located in an adjacent cupboad which could be operated by security staff upon arriving at the building. They are house a couple of mins away in a reception building.
Would you knowledgable folk out there accept this arrangement taking into account the nature of students, the good management of the building and its fire alarm system??
