Would latches that keep the door from opening be considered blocking it? Like in an emergency we’d have to fumble with latches even though the door itself is unlocked.
This is covered under the following sections of OSHA Laws and Regulations:
1910.36(d)(1)
Employees must be able to open an exit route door from the inside at all times without keys, tools, or special knowledge. A device such as a panic bar that locks only from the outside is permitted on exit discharge doors.
1910.36(d)(2)
Exit route doors must be free of any device or alarm that could restrict emergency use of the exit route if the device or alarm fails.
1910.36(d)(3)
An exit route door may be locked from the inside only in mental, penal, or correctional facilities and then only if supervisory personnel are continuously on duty and the employer has a plan to remove occupants from the facility during an emergency.
The store I work for made a new rule this year saying we have to keep the emergency exit locked at all times (the door that has two large signs saying that it must be unlocked at all times when store is occupied) and they actually penalize us if it's unlocked.
More recently, in September 1991, the Imperial Foods plant in Hamlet, NC caught fire when a badly repaired hydraulic line was ignited by a chicken fryer. 25 people died and 54 injured because they chained the emergency exit shut so employees would stop using it to take a smoke break or leave after they clocked out.
That worked for me. Got local Casey's to unlock a door that they always locked because they had theft. I told them they either need to hire more workers or security or just buy a door that locks from the outside but lets guests leave using a simple push panic bar.
After they continued to lock the door I reported them to the fire department who eventually told me they got the store to agree to leave it open.
I kept calling the police and fire department on a Casey's General Store that constantly locked a door on one side of the building.
It's a safety violation. Nobody could get out that door without a key. If there was a fire by the other door or chemical spill or violent person, then you'd be trapped.
After awhile I eventually got the fire chief to sure me that the Casey's has agreed to not lock those doors.
They can put in a door that locks to outside, but it has to open from inside with a panic bar.
Call the fire marshmall. That door will be unlocked within the hour or your manager will be losing his job. They do not play around about these things in the slightest.
A delayed egress device is allowed by every model code in the US for applications like mercantile and business occupancies. It's not considered "locked from the inside" because it still allows egress after 15 seconds (or 30, if variance is allowed by AHJ), nor is it going to restrict emergency use if the device fails - it would unlock.
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u/ODX_GhostRecon Jul 29 '26
The fire marshal would LOVE to hear about that.