A ground-breaking new smartphone app reminds facilities managers to unlock fire doors for public access and lock them again for out-of-hours security.Developed by Lodg:IC the app is pitched at retailers and entertainment venues that can incur fire-door fines of up to £2,000 per incident and £100,000 in cumulative penalties for flouting fire-door regulations. Failure to ensure fire doors are unlocked when buildings are occupied can even land the ‘responsible person’ with a two-year prison sentence.
When a building is due to open for public access the app sends alerts to facility managers reminding them to unlock all fire doors. Once all customers and visitors have vacated the building further alerts are sent with instructions to secure doors again for out-of-hours site security.
Once a fire door is locked or unlocked a staff member uses their smartphone camera to scan a printed QR bar code, which is attached to a plaque and uniquely identifies each door.
Building managers can calibrate a preset activity log to reflect the building’s particular opening hours. This ‘tour program’ reminds facilities managers and security guards to conduct a number of other scheduled tasks too. The usefulness of such an app was highlighted in May when a Premier League fixture at Old Trafford was abandoned because of an oversight by security staff during a training exercise.
Many sites fail to manage multiple fire doors consistently across several sites. Locking times vary and you’re reliant on a staff member to remember.” Simon Chapman, MD of Lodge Service – the company behind Lodg:IC
Activity logged on the app is remotely monitored from the Lodg:IC control centre in Redditch, Worcestershire. Should a scheduled activity not be completed within pre-set time parameters then an alert is triggered and warning prompts sent to the relevant user on site.
If the task is still not completed following these reminders then the Lodg:IC centre manager phones the designated member of staff immediately.
Should this still fail to elicit a response, the manager escalates their response according to a pre-agreed process, perhaps by contacting more senior staff, on or off site.
Each barcode scan is time stamped and the physical location logged by the smartphone’s geo-positioning system, providing the company and fire inspection authority with an audit log proving that activity was completed on time.
“Many sites fail to manage multiple fire doors consistently across several sites,” says Simon Chapman, MD of Lodge Service – the security services company behind the Lodg:IC brand. “Locking times vary and you’re reliant on a staff member to remember.
“The app gives the site manager – and senior management – the reassurance that all fire doors are under control at every site, at all times.”
The app can also be used to track designated fire wardens to ensure they are present on site when required. Wardens can log in and out of the building through more QR barcodes at all exit points.
Other services available include patrol and response and ‘ad hoc’ guarding, with the intelligence centre dispatching teams to repair damage or secure a site when required.
Fire Door Safety Week starts next month and will focus on houses in multiple occupancy (HMOs), sheltered housing and care homes, and private rented, council and social housing.
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