Access Control Regulations and Fire Door Compliance
How electronic locking and fire doors need to work together, and why this is not a DIY decision
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Access control and fire safety sit close together in any building that uses electronic locks on doors that also form part of an escape route. Getting this wrong is not simply a technical inconvenience, it can affect how quickly people leave a building in an emergency, which is why it is treated with particular care rather than left to guesswork.
This page speaks in general terms only. The specific rules that apply to any given building depend on that building's fire risk assessment, its layout, and decisions made by the person responsible for fire safety there, whether that is a landlord, employer, managing agent or building owner. Nothing here should be read as a substitute for that assessment or for professional fire safety advice.
What can be said generally is that access control on a fire door needs to allow free exit at all times, even if it restricts entry from the outside, and that any change to how a door is locked, held open, or released should be considered alongside fire safety rather than as a purely security decision.
What You Will Usually Notice
Safe Checks You Can Do Yourself
Locate your current fire risk assessment
This document, or the person who carried it out, is the starting point for understanding what is expected of doors in your building, including any that you are considering fitting with access control.
Identify who is the responsible person for your building
This is usually the employer, building owner, landlord or managing agent depending on the property type. Any decision about locking a fire door should involve this person before hardware is chosen.
Note which doors form part of an escape route
Walk the building and identify doors used to leave in an emergency, since these are the doors where locking arrangements need the most careful thought, as distinct from doors that are purely internal or non-escape.
Write down your security goals separately
Understanding what you are trying to achieve, such as stopping casual access from the street, helps a specialist recommend hardware that meets that goal without compromising how the door behaves for people leaving.
Avoid making changes to existing locking hardware yourself
Do not add, remove or alter locking mechanisms on a fire door based on general advice alone. This is a decision for your fire risk assessment and a qualified engineer working from it.
What Normally Causes It
Doors being both a security boundary and an escape route
Many entrance doors need to keep unwanted visitors out while still allowing anyone inside to leave freely and immediately, which is the central tension any access control specification on a fire door needs to resolve.
Hardware chosen without reference to the fire risk assessment
Locking hardware fitted purely on security grounds, without checking it against what the fire risk assessment expects for that door, is a common source of problems discovered later during an inspection.
Doors being held open incorrectly
Fire doors are sometimes wedged or held open for convenience, which can affect how a building performs in a fire regardless of any access control fitted, and is generally a separate issue the responsible person should address.
Changes made after the original fire risk assessment
A building's layout or usage can change over time, such as new tenants or altered escape routes, meaning locking arrangements assessed as suitable years ago may need to be reviewed again.
Lack of communication between security and fire safety decisions
Access control is sometimes specified by a security-focused team without fire safety input, and fire safety measures are sometimes reviewed without considering how doors are electronically locked, when ideally both are considered together.
When to Stop and Call an Engineer
Keeping it from coming back
Involve whoever is responsible for your fire risk assessment before specifying or changing any locking hardware on a door that forms part of an escape route, and treat access control and fire safety as one decision rather than two separate ones.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Access Control Regulations and Fire Door Compliance: common questions
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