Stairwell Doors Locked

Although the ibc would require just about all stairwell doors to be able to be unlocked remotely nfpa 101 has some exceptions.

Stairwell doors locked.

The term stairwell reentry refers to the code requirements which allow a building occupant to leave a stairwell during a fire emergency and find another exit. Stair doors providing reentry must be equipped with a fail safe product and since fail safe electric strikes can t be used on fire doors a fail safe lock or fail safe exit device trim is. For doors that are locked on the stair side the ibc requires the locks to be capable of being unlocked simultaneously without unlatching upon a signal from the fire command center if present or a signal by emergency personnel from a single location inside the main entrance to the building. Commercial building stairwell doors often are locked on the stair side to prevent unauthorized entry from the stairwells into tenant spaces.

According to 19 2 2 2 4 of the 2012. I seem to recall that the doors could be on magnets that release upon activation of the fire alarm and that have a touch pad that releases the doors within 15 seconds. An nfpa code allows stair doors to be locked from the stairway side if the locks will release upon fire alarm activation nfpa 101 7 2 1 5 7 2. Can a stairwell door that leads to the outside of a hospital be locked with a lock that requires a code to unlock it.