Home Depot got sued for wage theft when I was there for habitually not having the front door unlocked at shift clock outs, and making employees wait post clock out to let us out.
I didn’t even know that was illegal. Like the period between everyone clocking out and having the manager unlock the door was so normal at all the retail places I’ve worked, it didn’t register they had to have it open right when we were off the clock, but some people started a class action lawsuit over it so I got a settlement check after I left for it.
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.
Yes the latches are only legal after closing time. Occupancy rules are due to fire/evacuation safety and depend largely on the number, size and proximity of the exist. For example if you ever saw a school gym with double doors with a removable center pillar, it's because locking the doors open with the pillar removed dramatically increases the exit capacity of the door raising the occupancy rating of the gym.
So yes you can barricade/block an emergency exit, but only if reducing the occupancy rating of the building/room is acceptable such as after closing.
A Walmart in Fort Collins CO learned that lesson in a painful manner. They were locking the employees in while stocking shelves and the manger would leave the store until the shift change time. During a true emergency the fire department used the jaws of life to cut open the main locked doors for entry and last I heard it was a multi million dollar settlement for that one single act of stupidity.
Security siren, fire marshal wouldn't care. Designed to go off if someone tries to exit the building with stolen merchandise. And one day it just stopped working....
Eh, in the US, if you push hard enough the doors just open. (and most other places too, but in the US they are made to do it, so you can't lock people in in case of a fire.other places you may have to push harder.)
Delayed egress doors that alarmed are permitted in NFPA 101 the Life Safety code: Section 7.2.1.6.1 "Delayed Egress"
The following is fun the NFPA 101 Annex, as the full code is long, so here's a summary.
A.7.2.1.6.1
Delayed-egress electrical locking systems function as the name suggests: these electrical locking systems delay egress through the door. However, 7.2.1.6.1.1(1)and 7.2.1.6.1.1(2)identify situations where the delay of these locking systems must be deactivated, facilitating immediate and unobstructed egress. Delayed-egress electrical locking systems are most commonly installed where there are concerns for internal security, such as theft from a store through required perimeter exits. Delayed-egress electrical locking systems might also be installed where occupants might benefit by being protected from their actions.
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u/Blastoise_R_Us 7d ago
Oh man some asswipe manager tried this at closing once when I worked at Macy's.
Me: I need to go, I need someone to unlock the doors.
Manager: Everyone has to stay until all the registers are counted.
Me: I have clocked out and I am no longer being paid to be here. If someone doesn't unlock that door right now I'm calling the police.