Access Control Door Held Open - Fail-Safe vs. Fail-Secure Decision
A property manager for a 6-story office building is retrofitting access control on 22 tenant suite entry doors and 4 stairwell doors. The suite doors are single-leaf hollow metal doors with electric strikes in a fail-secure configuration. The stairwell doors are on the means of egress and currently have magnetic locks (maglocks) that release on power loss. During a site walk, the fire marshal notes that the stairwell maglocks are not connected to the fire alarm system and that the suite door strikes keep the door locked when power fails. The property manager wants all doors to "fail secure so tenants are not exposed" and asks the low voltage contractor to convert the stairwell doors to fail-secure strikes to match the suites. The building has a fire alarm control panel with a notification appliance circuit available for door release.
1. Evaluate the property manager's request to convert the stairwell doors to fail-secure and explain the code and life-safety considerations.
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The request must be declined as stated, and the contractor should explain why in writing.
Egress doors must release on fire alarm and on power loss. Doors serving a means of egress are life-safety devices. Maglocks on egress doors are permitted only under specific conditions, including that they release upon activation of the fire alarm system and upon loss of power. Converting them to fail-secure strikes would mean the doors remain locked when power is lost or when the fire alarm activates - exactly the opposite of what the fire marshal flagged. That is a life-safety hazard and a code violation.
The fire marshal's observation is the controlling issue. The stairwell maglocks lack fire alarm release. The fix is to connect them to the fire alarm panel so they release on alarm, not to make them fail-secure. The available notification appliance circuit can be used only if the panel and the release arrangement are listed and configured for that purpose; the contractor must confirm with the fire alarm vendor that the circuit is suitable for door release and that the release is supervised.
Suite doors. Fail-secure strikes on tenant suite doors are generally acceptable because those doors are not the required means of egress for the floor, provided the suite has an alternate exit path and the door complies with the applicable egress requirements. The contractor should verify each suite door's role in the egress path before accepting the fail-secure configuration.
Recommendation. Keep the stairwell doors fail-safe (release on power loss) and add fire alarm release. Decline the conversion in writing, cite the life-safety basis, and copy the fire marshal.
2. What design, testing, and documentation steps should the contractor complete before the access control system is accepted?
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Design steps:
- Confirm the egress path for each of the 22 suite doors and 4 stairwell doors. Document which doors are on the required means of egress.
- For the stairwell maglocks, confirm the release arrangement: fire alarm activation, power loss, and a manual release at the door. Confirm the maglock and release device are listed for the application.
- Coordinate with the fire alarm vendor on the release circuit. Confirm the panel output is listed for door release, that the circuit is supervised, and that the release is fail-safe.
- Confirm the suite door strikes are appropriate for fail-secure operation and that each suite has an alternate exit.
- Verify the power supply and battery capacity support the release devices for the required standby period.
Testing steps:
- Simulate a fire alarm activation and verify every stairwell door releases within the required time.
- Remove primary power and verify the stairwell doors release and the suite doors remain secure as designed.
- Test the manual release at each stairwell door.
- Verify the door position switches and request-to-exit devices function and are reported to the head end.
- Test the access control system's audit trail for each door.
Documentation:
- As-built drawings showing door types, release devices, and release circuits.
- Fire marshal correspondence and the written decline of the fail-secure conversion.
- Test records signed by the contractor and witnessed by the owner's representative and, where required, the fire marshal.
- Operation and maintenance manuals and tenant training records.