BEYOND FIRE PROTECTION

Where might fire-rated doors also benefit from security ratings in safer school design?

Designing safer schools often involves planning for multiple types of emergencies: fires, active shooters, violent intruders, seismic events and more. There also may be areas where multiple safety features overlap, which can further increase the complexity of safer school design. The list below outlines where fire- and life-safety requirements might intersect with best-practice recommendations for enhancing security from the building perimeter to the classroom door to achieve a safer school design.

• While not common, some building conditions may require fire-rated materials to be used in exterior openings—for instance if three exterior walls create an alcove or if a building is within 10 feet of a lot line or another building. In these instances, exterior stairwell doors and other entries may need a fire rating in accordance with local code requirements. In addition, multifunctional, fire-rated glass door systems can also be specified to contribute to best-practice recommendations for building hardening without compromising code-compliance.
• Just inside the school building, secure entry vestibules may combine many types of occupant protection, from fire protection to forced-entry or ballistic resistance. For example, depending on their design, the doors leading into a front office or the school itself may be required by code to defend against fire for compartmentation efforts and to safeguard egress routes. When these systems also defend against forced-entry or ballistic attacks, they can create a barrier between violent intruders and occupants, allowing them to contact first responders and take appropriate action, whether that is to shelter-in-place or evacuate. This aligns with recommendations from the Partner Alliance for Safer School (PASS) for designing safer schools.
• Further inside the school building, fire doors within exit corridors may also benefit from forced-entry or ballistic-rated components. In a recent white paper, PASS explains how fire doors used for compartmentation can also be used to create time barriers within schools. Multifunctional, fire-rated glass door systems can defend against several threats to occupant safety while also contributing to more intuitive wayfinding. This supports efforts to protect occupants during a fire emergency while also creating more time barriers to slow violent intruders.
• Also situated along corridors, classroom doors may require fire ratings in addition to benefitting from security-rated components. In these applications, creating an opening that resists violent attack and is appropriately fire-rated can support shelter-in-place protocols during multiple life safety emergencies.

In these applications, it is important to note that creating a multifunctional, fire-rated system is not as simple as putting a security-rated component into a fire-rated assembly. This is because many forced-entry and ballistic-rated components are plastic-based and can burn quickly and intensely, potentially inhibiting or negating a system’s ability to defend means of egress paths during a fire.

Explore Technical Glass Products’ (TGP) School Solutions Hub to learn more about systems that support code-compliant safer school design.

What do I need to know about doors with impact-safety-rated glass?

Doors with impact-safety-rated glass are able to withstand various levels of impact. For example, when CPSC 16CFR 1201 (Category II) impact-safety-rated glass is struck by an object comparable to a full grown, fast moving adult, it does not shatter, or shatters in a safe pattern to prevent injury.

Prior to the development of the 2006 International Building Code (IBC), the fire-rated glass in doors was only required to satisfy minimal impact performance requirements, even in areas that would normally be required to provide high-impact tempered or laminated safety glazing by building code. Today, fire-rated glazing in all hazardous locations, as specified in IBC Sections 2406.4.1 through 2406.4.7, must also pass an impact safety test. Because doors are often subject to frequent human impact and installed in hazardous locations, all glazing in doors must meet impact-safety criteria. This also typically applies to fire-rated glazing adjacent to or near the door, including sidelites or glass located near the floor.

Since not all fire-rated glass products provide impact safety protection, it is important to verify the selected offering meets either CPSC 16CFR (Category I) or CPSC 16CFR 1201 (Category II) impact classifications, as determined by the application. Fortunately, with the option to select from products like laminated fire-rated glass ceramic and fire-resistive glazing products that provide up to Category II impact-safety ratings, there is no need to choose between fire safety or impact safety. In fact, the codes no longer allow it.

What does it mean if a fire-rated door has security glazing?

Over the last decade, the rise in active shooter events has fueled advances in manufacturing, resulting in new security glazing options to mitigate these risks. For example, for schools needing a complete, integrated fire and security system, there are now options like Pilkington Pyrostop® laminated to School Guard Glass®. Pilkington Pyrostop is a fire- and impact safety-rated glazing material that blocks radiant heat, while School Guard Glass is a laminated glass product with a security strengthened substrate core designed to slow down intruders. By combining these two proven products, the resulting glazing solution is fire rated for 45 to 120 minutes, impact safety-rated to meet Category I and II requirements and UL 752 Level III bullet-resistance ratings.

Today, more than 40 different voluntary tests apply to security issues, though provisions are not currently mandated in building codes.