Access Controlled Egress Doors

[Marshal Chris]

Hello all, again.....

Today is code day in the office. =)

Here is the part of the code section.

1008.1.3.4 Access-controlled egress doors. The entrance doors in a means of egress in buildings with an occupancy in Group A, B, E, M, R-1 or R-2 and entrance doors to tenant spaces in occupancies in Groups A, B, E, M, R-1 and R-2 are permitted to be equipped with an approved entrance and egress access control system which shall be installed in accordance with all of the following criteria:

6. Entrance doors in buildings with an occupancy in Group A, B, E or M shall not be secured from the egress side during periods that the building is open to the general public.

1-5 we are all in agreement on. Section 6 is where the opinion differs.

For an entrance door with a mag lock installed that would be permitted and complies with 1-5,section 6 would require the mag lock to be disengaged correct when the building is open to the general public?

What's your opinion? Thanks.

 

[mtlogcabin]

section 6 would require the mag lock to be disengaged correct when the building is open to the general public?

Yes for Groups A & E

No for Groups B & M

1008.1.8.6 Delayed egress locks.

Approved, listed, delayed egress locks shall be permitted to be installed on doors serving any occupancy except Group A, E and H occupancies in buildings that are equipped throughout with an automatic sprinkler system in accordance with Section 903.3.1.1 or an approved automatic smoke or heat detection system installed in accordance with Section 907, provided that the doors unlock in accordance with Items 1 through 6 below. A building occupant shall not be required to pass through more than one door equipped with a delayed egress lock before entering an exit.

1. The doors unlock upon actuation of the automatic sprinkler system or automatic fire detection system.

2. The doors unlock upon loss of power controlling the lock or lock mechanism.

3. The door locks shall have the capability of being unlocked by a signal from the fire command center.

4. The initiation of an irreversible process which will release the latch in not more than 15 seconds when a force of not more than 15 pounds (67 N) is applied for 1 second to the release device. Initiation of the irreversible process shall activate an audible signal in the vicinity of the door. Once the door lock has been released by the application of force to the releasing device, relocking shall be by manual means only.

Exception: Where approved, a delay of not more than 30 seconds is permitted.

5. A sign shall be provided on the door located above and within 12 inches (305 mm) of the release device reading: PUSH UNTIL ALARM SOUNDS. DOOR CAN BE OPENED IN 15 [30] SECONDS.

6. Emergency lighting shall be provided at the door.

 

[Marshal Chris]

That's delayed egress. I was talking access controlled. Section 6 of the section I quoted before says a e b & m.

 

[FyrBldgGuy]

Delayed Egress Locks are not the same thing as Access-Controlled Egress Doors. Delayed means just that, upto 15 seconds can be set in the locking mechanism.

The door hardware on the egress side of the Access Control System has to allow the release of the door. This can be done by a push bar with a power interupt in the mechanism to release the mag locks. There can be no delay in this section of the code.

 

[Marshal Chris]

Ok, so is it your interpretation that as long as there is no delay in the release, there's no problem?

just FYI, heres the whole section (this from the NYS 2007 Fire Code)

1008.1.3.4 Access-controlled egress doors. The entrance doors in a means of egress in buildings with an occupancy in Group A, B, E, M, R-1 or R-2 and entrance doors to tenant spaces in occupancies in Groups A, B, E, M, R-1 and R-2 are permitted to be equipped with an approved entrance and egress access control system which shall be installed in accordance with all of the following criteria:

1. A sensor shall be provided on the egress side arranged to detect an occupant approaching the doors. The doors shall be arranged to unlock by a signal from or loss of power to the sensor.

2. Loss of power to that part of the access control system which locks the doors shall automatically unlock the doors.

3. The doors shall be arranged to unlock from a manual unlocking device located 40 inches to 48 inches (1016 mm to 1219 mm) vertically above the floor and within 5 feet (1524 mm) of the secured doors. Ready access shall be provided to the manual unlocking device and the device shall be clearly identified by a sign that reads: PUSH TO EXIT. When operated, the manual unlocking device shall result in direct interruption of power to the lock—independent of the access control system electronics—and the doors shall remain unlocked for a minimum of 30 seconds.

4. Activation of the building fire alarm system, if provided, shall automatically unlock the doors, and the doors shall remain unlocked until the fire alarm system has been reset.

5. Activation of the building automatic sprinkler or fire detection system, if provided, shall automatically unlock the doors. The doors shall remain unlocked until the fire alarm system has been reset.

6. Entrance doors in buildings with an occupancy in Group A, B, E or M shall not be secured from the egress side during periods that the building is open to the general public.

 

[cda]

""Entrance doors """

Now the question is what are the entrance doors???

say you had a bank and can enter on two opposite sides, becasue of parking, do you have one entrance or two

well do you feel lucky???????

and as far as when the door can be secured what is deemed public??? Is someone working in the building public??

 

[LGreene]

6. Entrance doors in buildings with an occupancy in Group A, B, E or M shall not be secured from the egress side during periods that the building is open to the general public.

I asked the ICC about this a while back and never got a straight answer. In my opinion, if you provide the sensor and push button as required, the doors are never secured from the egress side because there is free egress all the time. The other question is the limitation of the use of these locks to entrance doors and entrance doors to tenant spaces because mag-locks are much more widely used than that. According to the 2006 edition and prior, they weren't allowed on I-2 occupancies - that was changed in the 2009 edition.

We often see people mistakenly applying this code section to any door that has access control, like a door with an electric strike. This section basically applies to doors with electromagnetic locks, and you're correct when you say that this is different from delayed egress. I wrote an article about this application a while back for anyone who is having trouble falling asleep. You can download the booklet by following the link below, and the article is on pages 36 and 37.

Here's the link: http://www.ihatehardware.com/2009/02/cliff-notes-for-door-related-code-requirements/

 

[TimNY]

It depends on whether you go with a literal interpretation or a reasonable interpretation.

All buildings shall comply with #1 and #3; a sensor shall release the door upon approach and a manual means of releasing the door shall be provided.

Therefore, by literal interpretation, the doors of every building are not "secured from the egress side"-- EVER. There would be no reason to include #6 if that was the intent, imho.

My reasonable interpretation would be something like.. a Group A indoor arena has mag locks.. but when there is a game, the locks are disengaged; a Group B private bank in Zurich has mag locks, but given the state of the current economy they are having a grand opening where all are welcome, the locks are disengaged; Group E.. well State Ed prohibits mag locks on entrance doors, so this isn't an issue.

By definition some of these occupancies are open to the public. Group A is obviously one example, but look at the definition of Group M, "buildings and structures or a portion thereof, for the display and sale of merchandise, and involves stocks of goods, wares or merchandise incidental to such purposes and accessible to the public." Therefore, when the store is open for business, the mag locks are disengaged. AN exception may be a specialty retail store (eg jewelry store) where it could be argued the store is not open to the general public.

The actuation of the disabling mechanism will be case-by-case, per the AHJ.

However, I believe that when installed the system must have a means of disabling the mag lock for the duration the building is "open to the general public", such as a secured switch that interrupts power to the lock for the duration the building is open to the public.

 

[Marshal Chris]

Tim,

I agree. however I'm curious about the state education requirement you spoke of. I that the portion of code that only applies to public or both non puic and public? Can you show me the section you're talking about? I hadn't heard that before but makes sense.

 

[cda]

1, Is there a question if the sensor will work under smokey conditions???

2. and is it correct the sensors are not listed for release, or door release, cannot think of the correct UL term

3. and the biggest problem I see is there is NO SIZE requirement for the BUTTON, so I see all different sizes and find them behind, the palm tree in that is in a planter.

 

[LGreene]

Therefore, by literal interpretation, the doors of every building are not "secured from the egress side"-- EVER. There would be no reason to include #6 if that was the intent, imho.

I pointed out to the person from the ICC that this was redundant and he said that it was just to reinforce that these doors are not secured from the egress side. The section talks about an "approved entrance and egress access control system" but a system that complies with all of the requirements of the section doesn't control egress.

 

[TimNY]

Chris,

The prohibition is in the Fire Safety Manual from State Ed Facilities Planning. Item F-3 in section 17 has a bold footnote "Electromagnetic locking devices are not allowed"

The Commissioner of Education trumps the State Fire Code when it comes to buildings that he regulates.

I just looked at the manual again and this would apply to doors on all public and private schools that are part of the means of egress. So it seems that even a private office could not have this.

This wouldn't apply to a Group E daycare (not regulated by State Ed).

 

[Marshal Chris]

Tim,

I spoke to the State Ed today and that requirement for the mag locks is for Public Schools. Since they are not the AHJ for non public schools they can not mandate that for them. They do, obviously, recommend that non public schools adhere to the same requirement as that of the public school.

 

[LGreene]

"Electromagnetic locking devices are not allowed"

Is this NY State or NY City or both?

 

[TimNY]

@Chris- Thanks for that info. I spoke with DC at FacPlan and he told me it was up to me. He failed to mention the part about State Ed couldn't mandate them. I though he was putting it on me and I was like why the heck would I want to countermand what State Ed says. Now I see why he said that. Once I explained to the school that a motion sensor was required and it had to be tied into the fire alarm the issue was moot anyway. Some security if any 6yo kid walking by the door will automatically unlock it for the bad guy waiting outside.

Also check out the thread on Dead End Corridors, we're discussing access controlled doors in there, too.

I also have to mention the Fire Safety Manual says "Part IIB shall be completed for all public and private schools", then the sheet says "Part IIB - This part to be completed for all public and private schools" and then they put the mag lock provision in Part IIB. That would seem to indicate it would apply; perhaps that was their intent.

@LGreene- Definitely NY State. Although NYC has been doing their own thing building code-wise, I believe State Ed still has jurisdiction over NYC schools, but I am not positive.

 

[Marshal Chris]

@Tim, I spoke with Tom, the arcitect from FacPlan. He called after I emailed CT, to explain their position. I agree that they make it seem it's prohibited in non-public schools since it's listed in part IIB.

Checking out that other thread now.