HARDWARE & SECURITY
In panic situations, particularly where children are involved, ease of use and reliability are fundamental. For schools, where there are usually more than 60 occupants present, panic exit hardware is a typical installation on fire exit doors, with horizontal push bars and pads used for intuitive egress at the end of escape routes. These panic devices are designed to provide safe and effective escape through doorways with minimum effort and without prior knowledge of operation. Horizontal push bars for example, are often utilised on external outward opening doors, with panic hardware required to cover at least 60 % of the door width, ensuring devices are easy to find and operate in an emergency. All panic exit devices must also be fitted to comply with the harmonised version of EN 1125 Panic and EN 179 Emergency standards and ensure UKCA and CE markings are present.
Plan to protect
Far too often, escape routes are compromised in school buildings as a result of poor planning and a lack of fire exit maintenance. Where insufficient signage, blocked exit routes and untrained staff are common oversights that can severely impact the effectiveness of emergency exits, poorly maintained exit hardware could be the difference between safe escape and disaster.
The durability of exit hardware is regularly put to the test in school buildings, with wear caused by high footfall, heavy usage and vandalism. With this in mind, a duty holder or responsible person( often the headteacher or facility manager) is required to perform regular fire risk assessments to ensure appropriate precautions are in place to safeguard pupils and staff. As part of their duties, it is recommended that maintenance checks are conducted on a regular basis on escape routes and that all fire door hardware is in correct working order, ensuring all components are present, in satisfactory working condition and operate as follows:
1. When the horizontal bar is pushed, it should unlatch the door immediately without requiring a key, knob or other tools. The mechanism should be intuitive and require minimal force to open. Once operated, the door should also return to its original position.
2. Pushing the bar should release the latch and or bolts, allowing the door to swing open freely, facilitating rapid evacuation.
3. The hardware should normally be latched to prevent unauthorized entry from the outside. A door may be locked from the outside with a key or locking device, but from the inside should always be operable without a key.
4. Some panic bar models may include alarms or signals when the door is opened in an emergency or may have an optional dogging feature to keep the door open temporarily.
5. Hardware must meet local building and fire safety codes. Typically, it should be rated for a certain number of cycles and withstand specific forces. When on fire doors, hardware should also hold a fire rating.
Worn or faulty panic hardware can delay an exit door from opening or may simply cause the door to fail entirely, rendering a carefully planned and clear escape route useless in the event of a fire. In any case, should a fire door not be operating as intended, it’ s imperative that a school’ s responsible person seek out professional advice to ensure maintenance is carried out quickly and professionally, especially when children are present.
Schools will always be thought of as places of learning, care and responsibility, and with that there is an ongoing duty to protect the lives of our next generation and those who nurture them. To truly mitigate the risk of fire, responsible parties must work together to guarantee safe egress is possible at all emergency exits by specifying, installing and maintaining appropriate hardware fit to meet the demands of school settings. After all, an escape route is only as reliable as the exit hardware found throughout it.
www. allegion. com
https:// www. dhfonline. org. uk / media / documents / documents34a. pdf, https:// www. gov. uk / guidance / ukca-marking-conformity-assessment-and-documentation, https:// www. gov. uk / guidance / ce-marking
SEPTEMBER 2025
25
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