Category Archives: Security/Doors

We have shouted from the mountaintops — beginning in the 2002 National Electrical Code and later in the International Building Code — that “ingress” concepts (the opposite of the canonical term “egress”; meaning the way INTO a building during an emergency) should become part of the vocabulary when exploring best practice concepts for security in education settlements.

Alas, so far without success.  Evidently, the term “ingress” has been appropriated by a variant — accessibility — which re-directs the discussion toward the American with Disabilities Act?

What about people who are not disabled who seek to enter a building?

We cite a 1981 study, sponsored by what is now the National Institute of Standards and Technology — Crowd ingress to Places of Assembly: Summary and Proceedings of an Experts’ Workshop –– to enlighten understanding how ingress is different from the term access.

We maintain this topic on all of our Security related colloquia; hosted on days that appear on our CALENDAR.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

Entrance door to Standards Michigan Ann Arbor office

Means of Egress

Gone are the days when a door was just a door (or “opening”) — at least insofar as public safety expectations are  concerned.   As we explain in our School Security Standards post the pace of standardization in public safety management and technology has increased; driven by events.  Some of the risk management can be accomplished with integrated electrotechnology solutions that are complex and more expensive to design, build, operate and maintain.  Architects, electrical and information and communications technology professionals usually have to collaborate on the application of the technology owing to the blistering pace of cross-disciplinary integration.

The Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association (BHMI) is an ANSI accredited consensus standards developer for building access and egress technology standards that facility managers may see incorporated by reference deep in the architectural and electrical sections of construction contract specifications.    An example of how BHMA standards show up in enforceable contracts can be found in most master construction contracts in the education facility industry.*on Page 38 Master Construction Contract

The front door to the BHMA public commenting facility is linked below:

BHMA Standards Home Page

No drafts have been released for public consultation at this time; however we maintain the BHMA catalog on our daily scan of building construction standards.

We always encourage direct participation in the BHMA standards development process by facility managers and those with oversight on campus security.  You may obtain an electronic copies of any of the foregoing from MTierney@kellencompany.com and send comments to the same (with copy to psa@ansi.org).

All education facility security standards can be discussed any day at our daily 11 AM Eastern time teleconference.  We also set aside one hour every month to review the status of the rapidly evolving “fabric” of school security standards.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; always using the same login credentials and always open to everyone.

Issue: [19-52]

Category: Architectural, Electrical, Facility Asset Management, Telecommunication, Public Safety, #SmartCampus, Risk Management

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey. Jim Vibbart

Source: ANSI Standards Action

* See Page 38: Master Construction Specifications (Samples) (E.729) : Note the requirement to “Use date of standard in effect as of Bid date”.  Standards  in this space are moving quickly, and integrate with other electrotechnology standards.   It is an uphill battle for architects, engineers, specifiers and contractors to keep pace with them.  Compliance authorities usually keep pace with them, however, because the compliance interest is very strong in all standards development committees and compliance revenue originates from enforcing them.

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Campus safety! Workers are busy installing locks on hundreds of classroom doors. @OhioStateFOD @OSUPOLICE and the Registrar’s Office teamed up to make it happen. pic.twitter.com/hOqXtjYRJq

— Ohio State A&P (@OhioStateAP) March 1, 2019