is your front door part of the OMC's remit or your own? If its not part of the common area then its nothing to do with them.yes I'm an owner, just not knowledgeable in this matters. Becoming a director is not an option due to a number of factors.
I know they do check the smoke alarms and the alarm panel, but no one has ever asked to check my front door, and the additional locks are well visible.
My main concern at this moment, apart if the door is compromised and can't stand the 30 minutes, is if the insurance company could refuse to pay a claim should the worst happen and I will be considered responsible for that rather than the OMC which is not doing the inspections.
It may well be the OMC business. Here is an extract from a report after a fire inspection where I liveis your front door part of the OMC's remit or your own? If its not part of the common area then its nothing to do with them.
It had been noted during the course of inspection that a number of apartment entrance doors had been
provided with additional key lock mechanisms in additional to the original key lock device installed
within the door.
It should be noted that the original key lock installation within the apartment fire door adhered to the
requirements of Section 1.4.3.2 of Technical Guidance Document B in that;
“ In general, doors on escape routes, whether or not the doors are fire doors, should either not be fitted
with lock, latch or bolt fastenings, or they should only be fitted with simple fastenings that can be readily
operated in the direction of escape without the use of a key.”
The original installation comprised a simple thumbturn device on the inner apartment door side whilst
the door could only be key locked from the outside. This implies that the door cannot be unintentional
locked if someone has to evacuate the apartment in a hurry thus allowing the fire brigade easy access to
the unit in an emergency. The provision of additional self locking mechanisms will hamper and delay
such access in an emergency.
The introduction of an additional mortice type locks to the fire door installations is not permitted under
current fire safety legislation and all apartment identified in the schedule attached should be contacted
and instructed to remove the additional mortice type locking mechanisms
no idea honestly, I think it's part of the common areas but can't be absolutely sure.is your front door part of the OMC's remit or your own? If its not part of the common area then its nothing to do with them.
ok, in theory then it should be them to do the inspections and ask me to do the needful.It may well be the OMC business. Here is an extract from a report after a fire inspection where I live
All locks have to go through the doors, so another lock going through the door does not generally compromise that door assuming it was fitted correctly. The primary concern regarding additional locks on such doors is that they do not hinder escape in the event of a fire, not that they resist fire for a certain period of time.All the additional locks have thumbturn mechanisms, that should be fine, but the go through the door and maybe that's the problem.
Does your door have a spring mechanism - can it close behind you and lock? Or merely close.I see, ok that is helpful, so maybe the fact that I have those additional locks is not a problem as they can be opened without a key from the inside.
Thank you.
I'm hazarding a guess here but if the place is locked up completely less likely to still be someone in there, and also I imagine less likely for the fire to start there - think of how many fires are from cooking activities.yes there is a closer but the additional locks need to be closed by a key from the outside, otherwise you can still open with the handle.
I don't understand why it's a problem for the fire brigade. If someone is inside and leaves why should they need to gain access? If instead no one is home and we closed the locks, wouldn't they have to break in if they needed to gain access?
Just trying to understand more.