School safety: hardware choices for safety and security.

Hardware choices for safety and security

Hardware choices provide the right combination of life safety and security for each school

While school security is in the news more than ever, many school administrators are striving to reach a higher level of security for their facilities without sacrificing life safety. In many cases, life safety itself has become a security issue as well. Ever-present budget constraints make the administrator's job even more difficult, and school boards or superintendents may have to find ways to allocate additional funds where security needs are urgent. Following are some hardware solutions that are being used at many different schools to address individual security and life safety concerns while also keeping costs in line.

Exit device variations

Exit devices and their many variations have long been the first means of providing safety with security. The original push bar designs, still in widespread use, allow safe egress in an emergency while keeping doors locked from the outside. Doors equipped with these devices are easy to block open, which compromises the security function. To provide some protection, the doors may be equipped with a monitor or strike or door position switch to signal when a door is left open.

The advent of touch pad devices more than 25 years ago provided new options for life safety and security. Because these products can easily accommodate electrical functions, higher levels of security can be achieved without affecting life safety. Electric dogging, electric latch retraction and alarmed, delayed exit devices are typical examples. Delayed exit devices are particularly effective in preventing doors from being blocked open, yet still provide a safe way out in an emergency situation.

Some schools have found a cost-effective solution with electric latch retraction for perimeter doors. These can be dogged down electrically from a central location to keep doors open for easy passage during class changes while locking them simultaneously during class hours. This keeps buildings locked from the outside and forces any visitors to come to a central, supervised entry, yet the exit devices provide emergency egress if required.

During a recent situation at one school, it would have been helpful if the teachers had been able to gain access to areas that normally were locked. To provide access to such safe areas quickly, electric latch retraction exit devices on the doors can be wired to a master switch or switches controlled from the administration area. Then, with the touch of a button, people could be allowed to pass into or through areas. Likewise, the entire building could be either opened up or closed down instantly when necessary. If electric latch retraction devices were used on a facility such as a library or cafeteria, which would probably require exit devices to meet occupancy codes, the area could be locked against intruders from the outside, while the exit devices would allow the people within to leave when appropriate.

For areas of lower population, electrified mortise locks could provide a similar function. These units lock when power is interrupted so, again, just pushing a button or throwing a switch could lock many doors or a selected area at once. A key override on these locks enables authorized users to gain access as needed.

Magnetic solutions

Electromagnetic locks, if used properly and installed according to all applicable codes, can provide added security without sacrificing the control needed to meet life safety requirements. Because they must be tied into a building's fire alarm system, they allow egress in an emergency. Yet they are available with up to 1,800 lbs. of holding force for maximum security. Often, they can be used as an auxiliary lock and installed with presence detectors or request-to-exit switches to allow safe egress from the secure side.

As a lower-cost alternative to electric latch retraction exit devices and where codes allow, surface-mounted magnetic locks can provide excellent protection for perimeter doors and allow complete exterior lock-down except for a supervised main entrance, yet they can be centrally unlocked for arrival or dismissal.

Even simple wall magnets, typically used to hold cross-corridor fire doors open until an alarm is activated, can play a safety and security role. If the magnets are wired to a central switch in the administrative office, a series of doors could be closed simultaneously to cordon off various areas. Assuming the doors were equipped with exit devices, they would provide security in one direction with safe egress in the other.

Electronic access control

Some schools use electronic access control systems, which can include stand-alone electronic key control systems as well as wired systems using magnetic or proximity card readers and keypads. This approach provides excellent control of access to specific doors, and even at specific times, to achieve the level of security needed for personal life safety protection from intruders as well as theft and vandalism. The use of audit trail records helps track potential security problems. Traditional hardware functions and key overrides are available to meet occupancy and life safety requirements.

These systems also make it easy to accommodate widely varying student and staff needs. Because the electronic keys or cards can be issued with specific times of authorization and expiration, they can be given to those whose schedules may not coincide with regular school hours. For example, students in a lab class could be issued keys that would allow them to enter during certain hours before and after school on certain days of the week for the duration of the semester. Athletes for a visiting team could be issued keys for access to the gymnasium and locker area for a specific weekend. Scenery construction crews for a school play could be allowed into only one area during a specified time. If any such keys are not returned, they can be simply invalidated and removed from the system, eliminating the need for rekeying. In cases such as these, the added security also includes a large measure of personal safety for individuals or small groups alone in the building.

Another use for electronic keying is to issue partial master keys to teachers or administrators, allowing them access to specific areas of a building for emergency purposes without going to a complete master key system.

In making decisions on what type of hardware to select, school administrators need to first decide what they want to do with each building in a specific situation. They may want to close it down or open it up completely, either of which can be accomplished with electromagnetic locks and electric latch retraction exit devices. They may want to provide selective access, with limited master keys to non-sensitive areas, which can be done with electronic keys. This would allow a teacher to lead a group of students to a safe area, for example.

Simple hardware solutions

There are many inexpensive ways to improve the safety and security profile of a building using door hardware. For example, a more secure comfort zone for classroom areas or administrative offices may be achieved with something as simple as a mortise lock with integral thumb-turn deadbolt. This will provide a secure dead-bolted door lock when necessary to protect occupants of an area, yet the lever trim inside the room also retracts the latchbolt in one motion for safe egress when necessary.

A fire strike installed on perimeter doors will also prevent someone from inserting a prybar to open a door. These strikes incorporate fingers designed to interlock with similar configurations on the door and maintain door integrity during a fire. However, they can also improve security of these openings against physical attack and possible harm to occupants.

Mullions are another way to improve door security, especially when used instead of vertical rod exit devices on pairs of doors. By creating a more stable interface at the latch surface, they help prevent forced entries. If a larger opening is necessary at times to move equipment in and out, easily removable keyed mullions are available.

Installing door hardware with security fasteners is an easy way to prevent tampering or removal of locks by unauthorized persons, for whatever purpose. Lock protectors can be installed for inexpensive protection against forced entry, particularly on pairs of doors.

Even a simple flush cup pull on a door can be effective in improving security by eliminating a point of entry, since it has no protrusions that could be broken or that a chain could be wrapped around to gain entry.

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ONE SCHOOL'S APPROACH

The simplest solutions are often the best, as shown by the way one northern California school district is upgrading its classroom locks and related door hardware. By eliminating levers or knobs and installing exit devices inside the classrooms, school officials have been able to reduce hardware damage and improve security without compromising life safety.

With 79 schools and a total of 1,105 buildings in the district, lack of standardization was becoming a big problem when it came to door hardware. At the same time, key control also was a serious issue. There were several different key systems, inherited from the original districts that were merged, and facilities often had to be re-keyed to some degree each time a new principal was appointed. With the ease of duplicating keys in a standard key system, it was impossible to know exactly who had which keys.

A third problem was the cost of repairing and replacing damaged door hardware. School usage is one of the most difficult hardware applications, both for frequency of operation and the high energy level of the users. Lever trim, so common on public buildings, is also attractive to vandals, who apply excess force that can bend or break components.

As part of an overall modernization program, school officials there are now controlling these problems by standardizing with one family of commercial door hardware, including a high-security cylinder system, by eliminating most active exterior trim and by installing exit devices that can be dogged down with a key from inside the classrooms.

To prevent vandalism damage and provide safe egress, exit devices are used inside the classroom doors. Key and pull handles are used on the outside of the classroom doors due to increasing damage to lever trim. The locked door can only be opened by a key, and there is no functional trim outside to get damaged. Inside, the exit device keeps the door secure and locked when necessary, yet allows safe egress from the classroom in an emergency. During normal class hours, the devices are dogged down for push/pull operation. However, the teachers can lock their rooms down quickly and safely from the inside when necessary by using the door key to release dogging. Before, they had to go outside the classrooms to reach the lock cylinders. High-security cylinders are used on all exterior locks, while standard-duty cylinders with exit devices are used inside to provide cylinder dogging. Both inside and outside use the same key.

The district's key to higher security is the use of a high-security cylinder system on all doors. The system features a specially designed, patent-protected key that is available only from the manufacturer by authorized signature. The district uses Security Level 3, in which the factory maintains control of the key system and supplies key blanks only to the locksmith department, which keeps the keys and cylinders in stock. Keys are cut as needed.