Door Industry Journal - Winter 2020

112 THE door industry journal winter 2020 Also online at: www.dijonline.co.uk Locks & Building Hardware Electro-magnetic Locks the Correct Specification With the requirement for certificated products since the Grenfell Tower disaster, Securefast based in Cannock, Staffordshire, have seen an increase in sales for their electro-magnetic locks, with many clients, contractors and door manufacturers requesting the correct fire test and performance test evidence. Securefast are well known for their Deadlock range of electro-magnetic locks which includes surface mounted face to face, morticed, transom housing and gate versions. Many of their customers are using the electro-magnetic locks on escape and security doors following the introduction of their higher holding force electro-magnetic locks. With building regulation documents and technical documents for different countries varying slightly there has been a confusion as to what is acceptable or not. With the introduction of the standard EN13637, this allows the use of electrical panic hardware systems to be used on escape doors with the inclusion of Electro-magnetic Locks, Electric Locks, Electrical Panic Hardware, and Electric Releases. The standard allows the use of time delays which can be useful when used in residential homes to stop vulnerable residents from walk out in the middle of the night or in nurseries to prevent a young person from opening the escape door and wandering into the streets. However, it is important that building control approve any product which can inhibit safe egress from a building, regardless of the jurisdiction. The idea of the EN13637 standard was to: - (1) Improve security (2) increase locking forces to the door using high holding force electro- magnetic locks / electric locks (3) the option to link with the burglar alarm and (4) allow delay egress - allowing a member of staff to investigate before the door is opened The benefit of using face to face or mortice electro-magnetic locks on escape doors is that the products have no mechanical parts which can fail or be damaged from misuse. Once the power is cut by either the operator at the door or fire alarm, the door releases instantly. One of the great benefits of using these electro-magnetic locks on escape doors is that the direction of release is in line with the direction of travel and will therefore not be affected by side load forces unlike electric or mechanical lock cases, which incorporate moving parts. In Scotland they have recognised this as a potential safety issue and therefore permit electro-magnetic locks on the escape doors. Figure 2 - Transom Housing with Electro-Magnetic Mortice Lock fitted on the side frame of the doorway Figure 3 - Electrical Latch Retraction Touch Bar Figure 1 - Face to Face Fixed Electro-Magnetic Lock