assaabloy.com 141 Panic and emergency hardware Introduction What are the door details? Are doors glazed, moulded or flat? Touch bars are best installed on flat faced doors (or those with a solid mid rail) as they require full contact with the door skin. Push bars, especially slimline units with a narrow footprint, are ideal for fully glazed or moulded doors. If installing a mortice operator solution to a glazed door, allow for full lock case dimension, not just the backset, to prevent clashing with the glazing or bead. Is the door inward or outward opening? It is impossible to push a bar towards the door face and still pull the doorset towards you in a single action. Panic escape doors must always open outwards given main traffic flow during evacuation. Outward opening escape doors ensure users keep moving forward. Inward opening doors would require evacuees having to step backwards to open the door, potentially into the path of other evacuees, before moving forward again to exit the building, wasting time and creating an avoidable bottleneck. For emergency products it is less critical as EN 179 allows the use of lever handles which can be gripped and held down to retract latches at the same time as being pushed or pulled open. Also, as they are restricted to areas where users are familiar with building layout and hardware, the need for a slight backward step to open the door would be expected and allowed for by evacuees. Where should the unit be fitted? EN 1125 and EN 179 recommend fitting the operating element at 900-1100mm from finished floor level where possible but do allow for lower installation if required by building users e.g. nursery or primary school with young children. Is entry from outside required? Outside access devices (OADs) are designed to give lockable entry from the outside of a door secured by panic or emergency exit hardware. Most often OADs are operated either by a knob or lever. Installing our lever operated devices can help meet the requirements of BS 8300 for barrier free access and offer easier operation. However knobs are generally more difficult to abuse so can be more suited to exposed locations. It is critical that any outside access device is tested and certified for use with the internal hardware, otherwise it will invalidate the CE compliance. Locking considerations Locking types: Shoot bolts are a fixed peg that locates into a keep, rather like a deadbolt on a sashlock. They are mechanically pulled and held back to allow the door to open and then release to secure the door as it touches the frame when the door is closing. Shoot bolts operate in an up and down motion only. Pullman latches are sprung loaded pivoting bolts, like a latch in a sashlock. They are pulled back to clear the keep and allow the door to open but immediately spring back when the bar/pad is released. The latch spring action allows them to rock over the keep during the closing cycle without causing damage. Pullmans can also be used in a horizontal application and are ideal for tricky or protected transom detail. Number of locking points The number of locking points required depends on the needs of the project, budget and door type. 1 or 2 point locking is generally fine for a single door and 3 or 4 points is ideal for a double doorset. However, particularly windy, pressure sensitive sites or high security areas may require additional locking points on single and double doorsets. Is it a fire door? If hardware is being specified for use on a fire door, ensure the unit has appropriate fire door test evidence that covers both the correct door material and time frame. Taller top shoot bolts are available on request however please note overall door dimension limitations of EN 1125 and EN 179 testing. 900-1100mm, ideally
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