By now most of you have heard the familiar refrain heard all over the campus: Why must my office or classroom door be closed? By what authority and for what possible reason is someone removing the door wedges and hold-open hardware from classrooms, offices, and corridors everywhere? I am also receiving more and more requests to approve installation of mechanical door holders. Many have complained of how impractical keeping their door closed is, or just downright uncomfortable their rooms are without their doors open. Of course you are right to ask: What gives?
In reality, virtually all doors on campus were designed by the architect to remain closed when not being used for entrance and egress. Propping the door open, while to many is seemingly innocuous, is in truth quite significant as it relates to the safety of building occupants in the case of fire, explosion or chemical spill. To leave them open is a violation of the New York State Fire Code.
Doors are not just doors anymore. They must be understood as part of a system that encapsulates a room, a corridor, a stairwell, or even a whole floor. The system consists not only of doors, but walls and ceilings as well. They are all designed and constructed to work in concert to contain the heat, smoke and toxic fumes of a fire. It is especially important to preserve the integrity of exit corridors and stair towers.
Even a small electrical fire, or even one in a wastebasket, can produce withering smoke and gases in moments. We can’t, try as we may, eliminate all fires; we can, however, assure that everyone gets out safely when bad things happen. Secondarily, it is certainly to our added advantage to contain a fire to its place of origin. Apart from the life safety concerns, why should we lose the use of a whole building because of a small lab experiment gone awry, or a defective electrical cord? Of course we give up a lot by keeping our doors closed: the loss of open-door congeniality, convenience, and freedom from the annoyance of squeaky hinges or whatever. However, we gain much more: peace of mind. It certainly must be comforting for all of us to know that we are doing our best to assure the well-being of all members of our community.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding environmental health and safety on our campus, please do not hesitate to contact me at extension 3151 or via e-mail at <mailto:mgilmore@monroecc.edu>.
Martin Gilmore
Safety/Hazard Prevention
01/03/2007 |