Fire Door AnatomyOpen the 3D explorer

Component 08 of 10 · Ironmongery

Panic hardware

Panic & emergency exit devices. The one-motion exit.

On a locked escape door the way out must not depend on a key, a code or prior knowledge. Panic hardware releases every locking point in one action: a horizontal bar, pushed in the direction of escape, working under crowd pressure. Devices range from a bar driving a single latch to vertical rod devices bolting at head and threshold, and emergency exit devices to BS EN 179 use a lever or push pad in place of the bar. A door can be both fire-resisting and part of an escape route, and then the hardware has two jobs at once.

Key facts

Function
Unlocks the door in one single action, in the direction of escape
Specification
Horizontal bar driving a latch or vertical rod bolts. The bar spans at least 60% of the leaf width, push bar or touch bar alike
Materials
Steel or aluminium bar and cases with latching or vertical-rod bolts
Critical tolerances
One push must release every locking point; only the operating hardware the device was tested with keeps its certification valid
Standards
BS EN 1125 for panic exit devices, BS EN 179 for emergency exit devices, each as a tested set with its operating furniture. Fire evidence from the fire door's testing
Role in fire
On fire-resisting escape doors it also holds the leaf closed, backed by the fire door's test evidence
Where it sits
Escape-side face of escape route and final exit doors, which open in the direction of travel

Compliance

Safe egress always takes priority over security: guidance to the Building Regulations requires locked doors on escape routes to be openable in one single action, without manipulating more than one mechanism.

Did you know

BS EN 1125 devices are tested with a 1000 N load pressed against the door, standing in for a crowd behind it. The bar must still release at no more than 220 N under that load, and at no more than 80 N with nothing pushing.

On the model

Operating bar
At least 60% of the leaf width
Latch case
Releases on bar pressure
End case
Drives the latch when the bar is pushed
BS EN 1125 mark
CE/UKCA classification

What inspectors check

Work through the checklist with the door closed, then in motion. Every line here is a recordable outcome for a Fire Door Inspector.

  1. Operate it with one push, with the flat of your hand, anywhere along the bar
  2. Check the bar runs at least 60% of the leaf width
  3. On rod devices, watch the bolts actually withdraw at head and threshold
  4. Check every fixing is present and tight
  5. Look for padlocks, chains, bolts or anything added to the door
  6. Check nothing obstructs the swing or the route on either side
  7. Confirm the handles and pads are the ones tested with the device

Common defects

Go deeper

BS EN 1125 or BS EN 179

Two standards, two different devices, and the choice is not a preference. It follows from who is behind the door, whether they will know how to get out of it, and what the building's fire strategy expects of them.

BS EN 1125, panic exit devices
Operated by a horizontal bar. Intended for places where the public may be present and may not know the building: assembly, retail, entertainment, schools. The bar works wherever along it you happen to hit it, which is the point when people are moving fast and not looking.
BS EN 179, emergency exit devices
Worked by a lever handle, or by a push pad. Intended where the people using the exit are familiar with it and a panic crowd is not expected: staff areas, small offices, plant rooms. The device is only a conforming device as a set with the lever or pad it was tested with.
Choosing between them
Selection depends on occupancy, familiarity, the behaviour expected of people in an emergency and the fire strategy, and it is a decision for a competent designer or specifier working from the risk assessment, not a matter of cost or looks. Guidance to the Building Regulations points to panic devices where the public, or large numbers of people, may need to escape. Fitting an EN 179 lever where a crowd may be pressing is the mistake that matters, because a lever needs to be found and grasped and a bar does not.
Push bar and touch bar
BS EN 1125 covers both: type A is a push bar, type B a touch bar. The distinction is the shape of the operating element, not the level of protection.

What the bar has to do

The numbers behind a panic device are all about a person who cannot think, cannot see and is being pushed from behind.

Length
The bar runs at least 60% of the leaf width, and should be as long as it practically can be. That applies to push bars and touch bars alike. A short bar leaves a stretch of door that does nothing when you hit it.
Force, unloaded
With nothing pressed against the door, the device releases at no more than 80 N.
Force, under crowd load
Tested with a 1000 N load applied to the door, standing in for people pressed against it, the device must still release at no more than 220 N. This is the whole reason panic hardware exists: a lock that binds under load is a locked door.
One action
The bar releases every locking point at once. Guidance to the Building Regulations is that a locked door on an escape route opens in a single action, without operating more than one mechanism.Anything added to the door defeats this: a padlock, a chain, a barrel bolt, a second lock for out-of-hours security. If getting out needs two operations, the device might as well not be there.
As tested furniture
The outside handle, pad or lever has to be the one the device was tested with. That is true of both standards, and for a BS EN 179 device lock and lever are one tested set. Substituting a similar-looking item invalidates the certification and leaves performance unknown.

On a fire door

A panic device on a fire-resisting escape door has two jobs at once: let people out immediately, and hold the leaf shut against the fire behind them.

Evidence for this use
The device needs fire test evidence for the type of door it is fitted to, from the fire door's testing. A device proven on a steel door says nothing about a timber one.
Vertical rod devices
Rods shooting into the head and the threshold hold a leaf firmly, which matters on a wide or a distorting door. They also mean more preparation of the leaf, and bolts at top and bottom passing through or into the door edges.
What removing material costs
As with any lock, cutting a case into a timber leaf removes insulation and puts metal in its place. Where the fire evidence used intumescent around the preparation, it has to be there.
Direction of opening
Escape doors open in the direction of travel. A panic bar on a door that opens against the flow is the wrong hardware on the wrong door.

Fire Door Anatomy is an introduction to fire doors, not the whole subject. Always defer to the fire door’s certification, its test evidence and a competent inspection.