 | Bob Crager of Lewis Street Glass is a 26 year veteran in the glass business. Lewis Street Glass is a leading Wichita Glass company, serving the entire Wichita/Sedgwick County area since 1919. They do anything and everything having to do with glass, both residential and commercial. They also do Auto glass. They are located at 743 South Market, facing Kellogg on the South, and you can reach them by phone at (316) 263-8259. You can email Bob Crager at bcrager@lewisstreetglass.com |
Glass
2008-01-01 14:23:00
Glass door safety in schools, churches, and other public buildings?
Answer: For the millions of students who enter school facilities hundreds of times a year, and the folks attending church activities each and every day, there’s usually not much reason to think about the doors they use to get into classrooms, university lecture halls, or church entrances and sanctuaries. They open, they close, and you move on inside the facility. Lately, however, the headlines are shouting otherwise. Not just at school or church, but even at the big shopping malls! We need to be paying attention to what’s going on around us at all times!
Education administrators and church leaders should all know that beyond their basic function, doors can be a major factor in a building’s security, as well as the energy efficiency and accessibility. Most people interested in harming someone in any of these venues will make an attempt to enter through an existing door. Sometimes the doors have been in place for a number of years, and through wear and tear, or improper or inadequate maintenance, they’ve become saggy, and in some cases, totally unfit for their intended purpose. Absent some pre-planning, the folks inside can be sitting ducks for this kind of an unstable person. Schools, universities, and/or church facilities that want to provide students and/or their staffs with safe, comfortable and welcoming learning/teaching environments should pay close attention to maintaining their doors and windows, and be prepared to replace defective door or window systems with upgraded equipment. As door systems age and get battered from weather conditions, continual use and abuse, defects can develop. Hinges can become loosened, frames can get bent, latches sometimes don’t snap into place when closing. The flaws in a faulty door can allow leaks that can undermine a building’s heating and cooling systems. It can also turn what was supposed to be an attractive, accessible entrance into the building into a barrier for someone with physical disabilities. Moreover, a defective door also can lead to security breaches that enable intruders to enter a building more easily. Replacing defective doors is a lot better than ignoring it and hoping that nothing bad happens.
Caulking and weather stripping can help in preventing energy leaks, but preventing someone from doing acts of violence, and/or other unwanted intrusions is a much greater challenge. Both school and church officials often make comments about their feelings of insecurity when there are large numbers of people present, and the door security is usually considered by them to be marginal at best. There are several strategies for improving door security at these facilities, which can include access control systems operated with cards or keypads. There are also electronic door systems that can alert administrators when a door remains open too long, and can be locked down from a central administrative location. Metal detectors and video camera surveillance systems are being utilized more and more in today’s unsafe world. Many schools and churches are reducing the number of doors, especially those that can be opened from the outside, and those situated in
less visible parts of a school or church campus. With fewer doors to monitor and maintain, security resources can then be utilized much more effectively. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in its “Primer to Design Safe School Projects in Case of Terrorist Attacks,” encourages schools that are upgrading their facilities, to limit the number of doors that are used regularly for entering and exiting a building, while still providing sufficient numbers of emergency exits. Many churches are, in light of recent developments, installing newer technology doors for entering and leaving their facility, and some are even adding security personnel during services. You don’t like to think of a place of worship being a target of those wanting to commit mayhem, but the evidence is clear about that possibility.
The FEMA report also recommends that schools use hollow steel or steel-clad doors with steel frames and even consider blast-resistant doors for high risk facilities. The strength of the latch and frame anchor should equal that of the door and frame. The weakest part of most door assemblies is the latching component. Exterior doors should open outward, and hinges should be on a door’s interior. Schools should replace externally mounted locks and hasps with internally locking devices. Most all of the facilities mentioned in this article will utilize some type of glass door system for the front entrance to the buildings. The commercial glass doors of today are well suited for appearance, as well as most security considerations. Short of “blast proof” glass, someone determined to gain access to the interior of a building will probably succeed. The key is to provide a deterrent that is strong enough to delay them, and to discourage them from selecting you and your building as a target in the first place. Your local commercial glass dealer can assess your building’s door systems and estimate what your needs might be for correction of existing conditions in all respects. More next month…
