Escape Hardware

When designing equipment for exit doors on escape routes, you should always ask the question: is there any chance that a panic situation may arise? Often, of course, building regulations, fire safety requirements, etc, will give you formal guidance or will even require the use of special hardware. However, the designer should take all possible measures to reduce the consequences of potential risks that may occur i the lifespan of a building. Technical solutions to deal with panic situations and with 'ordinary' emergencies are different. It is therefore important to define what type of situation is likely to arise.

Panic Situations
The reactions of a large number of people are always difficult to predict, especially in the event of a fire in a cinema, a reactaurant. etc. the changes are that many of them will behave irrationally. The individuals exposed to such a panic sitiation must easily be able to find the hardware located on the exit door and how to operate it, and must not need any special tool or key which may not be available. The exit hardware must be designed to perform correctly in even the most extreme tituations, in order to allow panicking people to exit.

Emergency Situations
Typically, panic will not arise in hazardous situations invlolving a smaller number of people. especially not if these people are familiar with the premises and with the emergency exits and their hardware. This could be the case in offices or other working environments.

Information and training will allow people to act rationally and to overcome their fears when exposed to a threatening situation. A clear understanding of the means of escape will allow positive and reasonable reactions, thus making a clear choice possible such as where to go, what door to use, how to operate the door, etcetera. Of course, it is necessary here too, that the door will operate without using any special tool or key, since this may not be available immediately.

The Role of Exit Hardware
In a building, escape routes are designed to be used in both emergency and panic situations. Escape route include corridors, staircases and all other routes leading to a safe area outside the building.

The exit  doors located on escape routes and at the final exits from a building, should normally always open in the direction of escape. There may be exceptions, dut to the likelihood of special weather conditions (heaps of snow outside, for example) or because of the use of building such as hospital or hotel rooms.

Exit hardware is the name given to any equipment in a building which is intended to open the exit doors located on escape routes. Ease of escape (safety is always the first priority, but resistance to unauthorized entry (security) should not be compromised, partly because it could have a negative effect on safety.

Protecting Lives with Exit Hardware
History shows that, after every disaster, the public authorities respond with new legislation and regulations. In most countries where major disasters have occurred, better solutions are now enforced. Why should we wait for the next disaster before we act?

Traditional thinking often fails to recommend the most sutable solutions for a panic situation. New solutions that take account of recent technical developments and experience drawn from real disasters around the world are now readily available.

Within the ASSA ABLOY Group, we have a vast amount of expertise in the area of panic and emergency exit hardware and its application in many countries throughout the world. Our hope is that we can assist anyone with an influence on the selection of hardware for escape routes to make an informed decision about products which could save lives.