It had been noted during the course of inspection that a number of apartment entrance doors had been
provided with additional key lock mechanisms in additional to the original key lock device installed
within the door.
It should be noted that the original key lock installation within the apartment fire door adhered to the
requirements of Section 1.4.3.2 of Technical Guidance Document B in that;
“ In general, doors on escape routes, whether or not the doors are fire doors, should either not be fitted
with lock, latch or bolt fastenings, or they should only be fitted with simple fastenings that can be readily
operated in the direction of escape without the use of a key.”
The original installation comprised a simple thumbturn device on the inner apartment door side whilst
the door could only be key locked from the outside. This implies that the door cannot be unintentional
locked if someone has to evacuate the apartment in a hurry thus allowing the fire brigade easy access to
the unit in an emergency. The provision of additional self locking mechanisms will hamper and delay
such access in an emergency.
The introduction of an additional mortice type locks to the fire door installations is not permitted under
current fire safety legislation and all apartment identified in the schedule attached should be contacted
and instructed to remove the additional mortice type locking mechanisms