Issue link: http://digital.corporatepress.com/i/445610
46 | january/february 2015 | Facilities Manager code talkers T he term "lockdown" is broadly used within the education sector to describe a series of security measures undertaken during an emergency for purposes of prevent- ing intruders, armed or otherwise, from leaving or entering a school building or campus facility. Discussion continues to evolve among security consultants, members of law enforcement, and school administrators with regard to standard lockdown procedures and related best practices. What is less understood however, is the impact and potential conflict of lockdown measures on legally adopted, binding, and enforced building and life safety codes. At the invitation of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), repre- sentatives of the APPA Standards and Codes Council participated last Decem- ber in the NFPA School Safety, Codes and Security Workshop, which was held at the University of Maryland's College Park campus. More than 60 NFPA fire and life safety profes- sionals, campus and school public safety of- ficials, and representa- tives from national and international standards setting bodies and pub- lic interest groups were present for the event. The workshop participants took stock of the current build- ing, life safety, and fire codes provisions for egress. Also identified were lockdown best practices and lessons learned from the Sandy Hook School shootings, among other incidents. Additionally, participants discussed and reviewed, in detail, the protocols currently in place within the first responder community for purposes of dealing with armed intrud- ers on campus. Among the key areas for discussion were the following. Multiple Hazard Planning Concepts in Schools: Most of the current code provisions in building, fire, and life safety codes address fire events. Among educational facilities, approximately 70 percent of all fires take place within K-12 school buildings, while approximately 12 percent occur on college and univer- sity campuses. When it comes to school life safety, however, many schools and campuses are now implementing not only fire drills, but lockdown drills as well. Additionally, where schools are prone to natural disasters and related risks, there is a growing mandate for "shakeout" or earthquake drills, not to mention flood drills. Some jurisdictions are paring back the frequency of fire drills as required under NFPA 101 to accommodate these other drill requirements. The workshop re- vealed that there is growing concern that different and multiple drill procedures may lead to confusion among students and other occupants and therefore com- promise safety in the event of an actual emergency. Locking Hardware: A growing concern among fire and life safety professionals is the increasing number of "lockdown" door locking mechanisms and systems that are entering the market- place and fail to meet egress compliance requirements, or may be unintentionally designed to obstruct such requirements. Workshop participants identified the need to ensure that innovations and new approaches to locking hardware are Campus Lockdown Policies vs. Fire and Life Safety Codes: Are They Compatible? by John Bernhards code talkers code talkers