When it comes to door hardware, balancing safety and security can be a challenge. Compliant with BS EN 13637, dormakaba’s new SafeRoute emergency exit and escape route system has been developed to provide enhanced security while still ensuring safe and efficient evacuation in an emergency.
Ensuring safe and efficient evacuation of building occupants in an emergency is of course essential. There is also a need to keep the building secure and prevent unauthorised access during normal use and security experts will no doubt recognise that as a consequence, emergency exits can represent a weak-point in the security strategy.
Traditionally, a go to solution for meeting both requirements would be to use emergency escape locks with automatic self-locking mechanisms, that allows the door to be opened easily from the inside during an emergency situation, but locks again as soon as the door closes, preventing unauthorised access from outside. However, this approach does not prevent misuse of the emergency exit.
For example, in a retail environment the emergency exit could be misused as a getaway route out of the building for thieves. In care homes, hospitals, education and child-care settings, the emergency exit is a potential way for vulnerable people to leave without supervision. In workplaces it may be that employees misuse the emergency exit doors as an alternative exit from the building in a non-emergency situation.
dormakaba’s SafeRoute system helps to overcome the challenge of balancing safety and security. SafeRoute is BS EN 13637 compliant (the standard for electrically controlled exit systems used on escape routes) and can be applied to single doors, groups of up to four doors connected to a single control unit, or as a network solution for larger buildings. SafeRoute is also compliant with fire door standards so it can be used on all doors on the escape route, including certified fire doors.
To prevent the misuse of emergency exits, SafeRoute features a delayed egress function. This allows a time delay between the user pressing the emergency exit button and the release of the door. In the case of preventing theft, this delay allows security personnel to reach the thief before they can leave. Similarly, in educational or healthcare facilities where children or vulnerable adults could exit the building unsupervised, SafeRoute’s time delay provides sufficient reaction time for the supervisory staff and carers to prevent unauthorised exit.
Through a central management control (CMC), SafeRoute provides real time alerts when an emergency exit is activated to provide a warning of unauthorised use. The CMC also allows building operators to view the status of each door connected to the system and to lock or unlock individual or groups of doors remotely.
SafeRoute provides additional functionality for specific types of building. For secured areas, such as staff areas of airports, an escape route may include a series of access controlled doors that must be released in an emergency. Standalone door releases can prove impractical and can slow the evacuation. SafeRoute enables a predetermined series of doors to be released in an emergency to allow swifter evacuation but with final external door or exit into the public area still secured, which can be released as needed.
Installation of SafeRoute is simple and straightforward and the system’s preconfigured parameters are suitable for many applications to make commissioning simple. Where the standard parameters are not fully suitable, further customisation can be made with the TMS Soft® door management software. The system’s flexible, subscription-free licencing model ensures SafeRoute is cost effective for buildings of all sizes where the functionality of the system is determined by a licence card. If necessary, the system can be adapted to the building’s needs at any time through licence expansion and simply by swapping the cards, with no need for hardware changes.
dormakaba’s SafeRoute system provides a solution to ensuring safe and efficient evacuation in an emergency while delivering enhanced security during day-to-day use that complies with the regulations. To find out more about SafeRoute visit dormakaba UK and Ireland | For every place that matters
SafeRoute escape route protection system (dormakaba.com)
