The Retail Park Fire Door and the Insistent Delivery Driver
You are the lone guard on a night shift at a small retail park with three units. At 02:15 a delivery driver for Unit 2 arrives with a pallet of stock and asks you to prop open the rear fire exit so he can wheel the pallet straight in, saying the unit manager told him 'the guard will sort it'. The fire exit opens onto a shared service yard and is the only escape route from the rear stockroom. The unit manager is uncontactable. The driver is polite but increasingly impatient, and there is light rain falling on the pallet. You have a printed site instruction sheet that says fire doors must remain closed and that deliveries outside 07:00-19:00 require the duty manager's authorisation. You do not have a key to the front shutter.
1. What should you do about the driver's request, and why?
Read the worked answer
Refuse to prop the fire exit open. Reasoning:
- A fire door on the only escape route from an occupied area must be kept closed and unobstructed at all times - propping it creates an immediate life-safety breach and is a legal and site-rule violation, not a courtesy.
- The driver's verbal claim of authorisation is not authority. The site instruction requires the duty manager's authorisation for out-of-hours deliveries, and the manager is uncontactable, so authorisation does not exist.
- Your duty is to the site and its safety, not to the driver's convenience. Rain on stock is a commercial issue, not a reason to compromise an escape route.
2. How would you handle the driver and record the incident?
Read the worked answer
Handle it calmly and professionally:
- Explain clearly and without aggression why you cannot open the fire exit (escape route, site rule), so the refusal is about the rule, not the person.
- Offer a safe alternative if one exists (e.g. ask him to wait in a safe area until the duty manager can be reached, or advise him to contact his own dispatch).
- Do not take custody of the pallet or accept liability for it; log that it was left in the yard at the driver's decision.
- Record in the incident log: time, driver name/company, vehicle registration, the request made, your refusal and the reason, any alternative offered, and that the manager could not be reached. Note the fire door was checked closed afterwards.
- Report to the duty manager at handover.
3. The driver ignores you, wedges the door with the pallet and walks off. What now?
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Safety first, then evidence, then escalation:
- Do not physically restrain or chase the driver - you are alone, he is not posing an immediate threat to life, and physical intervention over a fire door is disproportionate.
- Immediately remove the obstruction and confirm the door is closed and latched, so the escape route is restored.
- If the pallet cannot be moved safely alone, call for assistance and log it; keep the area clear of other hazards.
- Record everything factually (times, what was said, what he did, that you restored the door), preserving any CCTV.
- Report to the duty manager and, per site policy, to the client; the driver's conduct is a matter for his employer and the site contract, not for you to resolve by force.